$12.1 billion.
That’s how much Big Pharma lavished on America’s doctors from 2013 to 2022,
according to a new study, for things like travel, meals, drinks, honoraria,
consulting, and outright gifts.
* About 826,000 physicians received such payouts from drug or device makers
over that ten-year span.
* Some orthopedic surgeons raked in as much as $4.8 million!
* But even something as seemingly innocent as a luncheon sponsored by Big
Pharma has been shown to influence the decisions doctors make.
* Because there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
* Big Pharma knows exactly what it’s getting for investing well over a billion
dollars a year — which it can easily afford due to its relentless fleecing of
the American people — to influence our nation’s doctors.
Multiple studies demonstrate that payments from pharmaceutical companies and
device manufacturers are linked to increases in prescriptions for specific
medications and the use of particular devices.
That, in turn, can lead to inflated costs for patients, insurers, and Medicare.
There is no reason that Big Pharma lavishing money on doctors should be legal.
Congress can and must change the law so that the American people know we’re
getting the medicines and devices we need rather than whatever Big Pharma
happens to be influencing doctors to prescribe.
Tell Congress: [[link removed]]
The American people deserve to know that we’re getting the drugs and medical
devices we need, uninfluenced by payments to doctors from Big Pharma. Pass
legislation to ban pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers
from buying influence with doctors.
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Thanks for taking action.
For progress,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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