Pfizer, Inc., To Begin Disclosing Payments to Doctors

Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drug maker, has stated that it will begin disclosing all sizable payments it makes to doctors, including those who test experimental drugs in people, a first for the industry. The disclosures would begin early next year and are planned to include all payments to medical personnel who prescribe drugs — doctors, physician's assistants and nurse-practitioners — exceeding $500 in a year. The move comes after introduction last month of legislation to require such disclosures, and revelations of astronomical payments to some doctors that were not revealed to universities and hospitals that employed them.

The initiative will also include payments to universities and research sites involved in clinical research, and will cover non-financial gifts to doctors such as meals, travel expenses, textbooks and anatomical models. It's one of several by Pfizer in recent years to disclose more information about its operations and financial ties to politicians and outside groups. Pfizer is the first company to add payments to doctors who work on clinical studies, write up reports for medical journals on them and otherwise provide behind-the-scenes support for getting an experimental drug approved by regulators.

Pfizer last year became the first pharmaceutical company to begin posting on its Web site the grants and charitable contributions it makes. It also was the first company to create a Web site about drug safety that is not linked to promotion of products, http://www.pfizer.com/medicinesafety.  And, like many other drug makers, it posts results of its clinical studies online and reports on its U.S. political contributions.