More than 67% of rheumatologists received payments from drug companies, says new study
Some $33 million was spent by the main pharma companies on doctors between 2019 and 2022, the research found.
Around 5% of doctors in Australia — some 6500 in number — received at least one payment from a pharma company, a new analysis shows.
The payments were tracked from November 2019 to October 2022 and covered doctors’ travel costs for attending events, event registration fees as well as fees for various consultation services, including grants and in‐kind support.
They did not cover payments for food and drinks or research.
But the authors of the research letter published in The Medical Journal of Australia this week found that some 67% of rheumatologist received payments over the three-year period (median $933), along with 42% of respiratory and sleep physicians (median $1091) and 41% of oncologists and haematologists (median $1200).
