Originally published February 15 2006
Finance committee finds possible corruption in educational grants doled out by Big Pharma
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Heading the Senate Finance Committee's investigation of a growing number of educational grants handed out by big pharmaceutical companies, Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), and Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) are finding that the grants often have very little to do with education and much to do with political persuasion.
A Congressional investigation of the money that drug companies give as supposed educational grants has found that the payments are growing rapidly and are sometimes steered by marketing executives to doctors and groups who push unapproved uses of drugs.
Twenty-three drug makers spent a total of $1.47 billion in 2004 on educational grants, or an average of $64 million per company, according to the Senate Finance Committee.
The committee did not estimate what percentage of those grants were instead used for marketing purposes.
But in a letter sent Monday to Johnson & Johnson, the committee suggested that the use of educational grants to further marketing aims was widespread in the industry.
Mr. Baucus added, "If drug companies are crossing the line with these grants and influencing providers to make treatment decisions they might not otherwise make, that's a problem and we're going to tackle that."
The investigation is part of a growing reassessment by federal legislators and prosecutors of the ways that drug makers are said to encourage doctors to prescribe medicines for uses not approved by federal drug regulators.
Food and Drug Administration regulations have long allowed drug companies to give educational grants to individuals or groups that discuss or promote off-label uses.
But in recent years, federal prosecutors have been investigating whether these activities have strayed beyond educational purposes and violated antikickback statutes or resulted in the government's spending money in its Medicare and Medicaid health programs for prescriptions that were not warranted.
That grant was provided at the request of a physician who had previously received grant money for research and educational activities related to Propulsid, a Johnson & Johnson drug that was withdrawn in 2000 after it was found to cause potentially fatal heart arrhythmias.
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