New data show that pharmaceutical companies are scaling back payments made to doctors to market opioid products.
A June 28, 2018 report from ProPublica noted that drugmakers in 2016 made $15.8 million worth of payments to doctors to cover speaking fees, consulting work, and meals and travel related to opioid marketing efforts, marking a 33% decline from the prior year.
“Given the deluge of media attention with the opioid epidemic, I think we’ve seen the pendulum swing in the opposite direction,” Michael Barnett, an assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard T.H. School of Public Health, told ProPublica.
Barnett added, “If this is actually a result of manufacturers actually saying, ‘Holy crap, people actually care about opioids being used responsibly’ and they’re aware that their advocacy and payments to physicians could be seen as pushing these medications in a way that is ethically dubious, then that’s a beneficial development and something I’d like to see more of.”
Read the ProPublica article: Opioid Makers Cut Back On Marketing Payments To Doctors