Grassley posted slightly more than a third of Wilens' payments ($612,303 out of a total of $1.6 million). Only $69,915 of this (11%) came directly from drug companies. Most of the money ($542,388) came from various third party companies, many, possibly all of which, are CME companies, Carlat reports.
"The biggest tool the industry has for off-label promotion is continuing education," says Adriane Fugh-Berman, an associate professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, involved with a program called PharmedOut, created to educate doctors about the prescribing influences of big drug companies, in the Star-Ledger on June 6, 2010.
"Physicians have freedom of speech and aren't under the same constraints as industry employees," she explained.
When drugs are prescribed for off-label or unnecessary uses, public health care programs not only have to pay for the drugs, they must also pay the prescribing doctors' fees and the cost of medical care for any injuries caused by the drugs.
Government spending tied to psychiatric drugs has gone through the roof in the past two decades due to the bilking of public programs. And no doubt as a result, pharma CEOs are earning over the top pay packages. In 2008, the head of J&J pulled in $29.1 million, Abbott Labs' CEO took home $28.3 million, the top dog at Bristol-Myers earned over $23 million, Lilly's CEO pulled down close to $13 million, Pfizer's took home over $15.5 million, Wyeth's CEO earned nearly $26 million, and Forest Labs' top official was paid more than $6.5 million, according to the AFL-CIO's "Executive Pay Watch" website.
American Psychiatric Association
Early on in his investigation, Grassley asked the "American Psychiatric Association," for an accounting of money received from drug companies and foundations created by drug companies. In 2006, the industry accounted for about 30% of the Association's $62.5 million in financing, or about $18.75 million, according to the New York Times.
The 38,000 member APA describes itself as "a national medical specialty society whose physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses."
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