Report: Glaxo to stop paying docs to promote drugs

One of the world’s largest drug companies will cease paying doctors to promote its products ahead of next year, when new disclosure rules under ObamaCare take effect, according to a report.

GlaxoSmithKline will also stop compensating salespeople based on the number of prescriptions doctors write for its products, according to The New York Times.

{mosads}Both practices are common in the drug industry but have drawn criticism from watchdogs who say the practices create conflicts of interest.

A section of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seeks to address this criticism by requiring drug, device and biologic manufacturers to disclose their payments and gifts to doctors.

The law creates an online database where these disclosures will be publicly accessible.

The office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) circulated the Times report and called Glaxo’s move “a result of the [ACA’s] strict consumer transparency requirements.”

“The [law] mandates that big drug companies disclose the doctors they pay, a provision which pushed Glaxo to end the questionable practice,” the office stated in a memo to reporters.

Large drug companies regularly pay doctors to speak on their behalf at events within the medical community, and outside of the United States, they often fund doctors’ trips to medical conferences.