Glaxo Says It Will End Payments to Physicians for Lectures

Right after the Times expose on Attention Deficit Disorder drugs, Glaxo, one of the biggest drug companies in the world, announces it will stop paying doctors for giving lectures and going to conferences.  The end of payments is not total, it is selective and still allows for some research work, but it represents an apparent major concession to ethics complaints.  However, one reason for stopping payments to doctors is that the drugs the companies make the most money on don’t give the doctors any choice:  there’s no need to talk the doctor into using it because it’s the only drug available for the problem.

The article URL is: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/business/glaxo-says-it-will-stop-paying-doctors-to-promote-drugs.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

One reason for Glaxo’s concessions may be that the company had to pay a fine in 2012 of $3 billion to resolve charges that it had marketed drugs for unapproved uses.  The company has also entered into a corporate integrity agreement with the Justice Department that makes ongoing changes to the way sales representatives are paid and drugs are marketed.  

It should be clear to the political observer that huge companies can be encouraged to act in highly ethical ways if effective and stringent regulations are in place.