$33 Million Transferred From Big Pharma to Doctors in Australia

Pharmaceutical companies paid doctors more than $33 million (US$21.9 million) over three years in Australia to promote their products. More than 6,500 doctors across the country received at least one payment from a pharmaceutical company between November 2019 and October 2022. The findings were revealed in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Medical Journal of Australia on May 6. The highest payments were in haematology or oncology, followed by cardiology and endocrinology. Rheumatology was the specialty where the greatest number of doctors were recipients of payments. “A total of 6,504 doctors (4.9 percent of all medical practitioners registered in Australia; 4,086 men, 63 percent) had received at least one payment or transfer of value from pharmaceutical companies for registration fees, travel costs, or fees for service during November 2019–October 2022,” the paper stated....