A report released Monday showing that pharmaceutical companies spent more than $16 million in consumer advertising in West Virginia and millions more in gifts and payments to physicians caught the attention of many, including Gov. Joe Manchin.
A report released Monday showing that pharmaceutical companies spent more than $16 million in consumer advertising in West Virginia and millions more in gifts and payments to physicians caught the attention of many, including Gov. Joe Manchin.
Acting state Pharmaceutical Advocate Shana Phares said Manchin ordered her Tuesday to come up with options for more detailed reports on what drug manufacturers are spending to encourage patients to ask for, and doctors to prescribe, expensive brand-name drugs.
That represents an about-face for Manchin, who blocked tougher financial disclosure requirements for drug companies last year.
"This first round of data ... shows us that some physicians are taking payments that are significant amounts of money," Phares said Tuesday.
The disclosures showed that 111 pharmaceutical manufacturers reported a total of 14,933 separate "gifts, grants or payments" to state doctors, in amounts ranging from $50 to $52,000.
Under current law, drug companies simply report how many gifts and payments they made falling into amount categories starting at $50 to $1,250, then increasing by $1,250. There is no way to determine how much individual doctors are accepting from drug companies.
The number of payments far exceeds the number of practicing physicians in the state. "We know there are doctors that are evidently taking payments from multiple companies," Phares said.
Current disclosure requirements also provide no way to determine what specific benefits physicians received, whether free meals, travel and lodging, gifts, consulting fees, honoraria for attending conferences or lectures, or other payments.
Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg confirmed that the governor asked Phares to come up with proposals to improve the disclosure requirements.
"He did ask her to come up with all the options of where we can go from here," Ramsburg said. "The goal is having the process be as transparent as possible."
Manchin blocked tougher financial disclosure requirements for drug companies during the 2007 legislative session, House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne, said Tuesday.
A report released Monday showing that pharmaceutical companies spent more than $16 million in consumer advertising in West Virginia and millions more in gifts and payments to physicians caught the attention of many, including Gov. Joe Manchin.
Acting state Pharmaceutical Advocate Shana Phares said Manchin ordered her Tuesday to come up with options for more detailed reports on what drug manufacturers are spending to encourage patients to ask for, and doctors to prescribe, expensive brand-name drugs.
That represents an about-face for Manchin, who blocked tougher financial disclosure requirements for drug companies last year.
"This first round of data ... shows us that some physicians are taking payments that are significant amounts of money," Phares said Tuesday.
The disclosures showed that 111 pharmaceutical manufacturers reported a total of 14,933 separate "gifts, grants or payments" to state doctors, in amounts ranging from $50 to $52,000.
Under current law, drug companies simply report how many gifts and payments they made falling into amount categories starting at $50 to $1,250, then increasing by $1,250. There is no way to determine how much individual doctors are accepting from drug companies.
The number of payments far exceeds the number of practicing physicians in the state. "We know there are doctors that are evidently taking payments from multiple companies," Phares said.
Current disclosure requirements also provide no way to determine what specific benefits physicians received, whether free meals, travel and lodging, gifts, consulting fees, honoraria for attending conferences or lectures, or other payments.
Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg confirmed that the governor asked Phares to come up with proposals to improve the disclosure requirements.
"He did ask her to come up with all the options of where we can go from here," Ramsburg said. "The goal is having the process be as transparent as possible."
Manchin blocked tougher financial disclosure requirements for drug companies during the 2007 legislative session, House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne, said Tuesday.
"Rather than say I told you so, I would say even though it's been a long time coming, the message from the administration is getting better," said Perdue, a leading legislative advocate for pharmaceutical cost management.
He called the current disclosure requirements - a compromise worked out with the Senate and Manchin administration - "a very blunt tool" and added, "Certainly, significant refinements are needed to make it the kind of useful tool it could be."
Phares said she would first look at Minnesota's pharmaceutical disclosure law - which makes public all pharmaceutical company advertising and physician marketing expenses, and identifies all physician recipients of gifts and grants by name and amounts.
She said it is vital to have a more precise picture of what pharmaceutical companies are spending to encourage physicians to prescribe their brands of drugs, even if that spending is merely to cater lunch for the doctor's office.
Attempts to reach West Virginia Medical Association officials were unsuccessful Tuesday.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America released a statement Tuesday from Senior Vice President Ken Johnson.
"PhRMA member companies take very seriously their obligation to report what they spend on marketing and advertising in West Virginia," Johnson said. "As the report notes, the companies have complied with the requirements of the advertising rule."
He stressed that, like any other industry, pharmaceutical companies need to market and advertise their products.
"As is true with any other product or service, whether it's hospital care or the purchase of a treadmill for exercise, marketing is an important part of making consumers aware of their choices," Johnson stated.
"What's more, pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies spend far more on donating medicines to West Virginians who need help obtaining their drugs. The companies donate medicines worth close to $60 million a year to free clinics around the state," he said.
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 348-1220.
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If you want pure free market I hope you're consistent. That means no regulations at all for labor, safety, pollution, zoning etc. Should we get a bill if we need a policeman or a firefighter? Maybe you should pay for your child's primary education and if you can't afford it, too bad. Right now that is close to how we treat health care, especially drugs.
In the end regulations on business, as well as certain restrictions on individual behavior, within the context of the US constitution are beneficial to all. These regulation and restrictions don't fall out of the sky or from a king's proclomation, but from a government that WE THE PEOPLE own. At least that's how it's supposed to work. I'm not ready to give up on those concepts, unlike the anti-government free marketeers.
Ummm...to "Someone": you do realize that this is America, which has a free market capitalist economic system, don't you? Private companies should be "controlled"? Should Manchin, et. al., then assume control over auto repair garages so that the cost of car repairs doesn't get out of control?
Also: why shouldn't the patient pay all or a portion of the costs of their meds? Aren't they the consumer of the product?
Manchin's daughter works for Mylan, which produce generic drugs. Maybe he is biased, but more use of generics when appropriate is good for consumers.