Pharmaceutical Companies Slash Spending On Promotional Speakers

There is a growing trend of pharmaceutical companies operating in the US cutting promotional speaking payments. Drug companies have recently been called out by government officials and health advocates for paying doctors to speak about their drugs and treatments. A study of drug company spending done by ProPublica shows that major companies such as Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Novartis are all spending less on promotional speakers.

Eli Lilly’s promotional speaker payments fell 55% last year. For Pfizer, that number was 62% and 40% for Novartis. Each company spent millions less than they had in 2012. Industry experts point out that those promotional speakers can set off regulators, who aim to keep drug company advertising and marketing in line with FDA regulations. New regulations, such as the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, will require all drug companies paying physicians to report those payments publically. The first disclosures will become public in September of this year. Those disclosures cover the second half of last year, which coincides with the drop in promotional speaker spending.

An Eli Lilly spokesman stated that their company’s budget for promotional speakers increases when a new medicine is released. “The value of educational programs tends to be higher when we’re launching a new medicine or we have new clinical data/new indication,” said J. Scott MacGregor.

Pfizer spokesman Dean Mastrojohn stated that his company’s spending on the matter would fluctuate. “Like any other company, our business practices must adapt to the changing nature of our product portfolio, based in part on products going off patent and new products being introduced into the market,” he said.