Eli Lilly introduces physician payment registry for public

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced the launch of a physician payment registry (www.lillyphysicianpaymentregistry.com) to help the public better understand how the company works with U.S. physicians and compensates them for their services – and how these collaborations benefit patient care.

The website allows visitors to search payments to individual U.S.-based physicians and the institutions or research organizations that receive payments on behalf of a physician. Payments are reported in several categories – including research-related payments, educational programs and other services, such as commercial consulting. The registry also discloses non-cash forms of value provided (such as business meals), as well as travel expenses paid by Lilly when a physician is performing services for the company.

These disclosures are part of Lilly's obligations under its Corporate Integrity Agreement with the federal government, and are consistent with the company's philosophy that improved transparency around collaborations with physicians can help strengthen the public's trust in the pharmaceutical industry.

"When health care professionals work together with the pharmaceutical industry, patients benefit from our combined expertise," said Jack Harris, M.D., vice president for Lilly's U.S. Medical Division. "Through these collaborations, we are able to develop innovative medicines, improve health education and better understand patients' needs. Without our joint efforts, new medicines could never reach the millions of patients who need better treatment options for diseases such as cancer, diabetes, depression and Alzheimer's."

The majority of payments reported on the registry (63 percent) are related to research, including clinical studies for investigational medicines. These studies evaluate the safety and effectiveness of potential medicines -- critical information that must be gathered to understand whether a treatment works, is safe and meets the rigorous regulatory standards for bringing new medicines to patients.

"Much of our research and development costs are related to the significant care, testing and monitoring of patients in clinical studies," Dr. Harris said. "These payments cover everything from X-ray and lab work to the costs associated with physician and staff time."

Clinical study payments are made to an institution, such as a hospital or university, or a principal investigator (the physician overseeing patients in the study) to cover all the costs associated with the clinical study. In most cases, Lilly does not know the amount of compensation, if any, that the principal investigator receives from the institution for involvement in the study.

The largest cumulative payment reported on the Lilly registry is to Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI), a not-for-profit academic clinical research organization, for $767,564, related to a study requested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that illustrates a unique collaboration among the FDA, HCRI and cardiovascular drug and device manufacturers. Called the DAPT Study (Dual Antiplatelet Therapy), this multinational, multicenter study was initiated in response to an FDA request for post-market studies of drug-eluting coronary stents that would yield sufficient data to answer important public health questions.

As the Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) sponsor for the DAPT Study, HCRI is responsible for study management and the independent analysis of the resulting data, and as such, has received funding support from each of the drug and device manufacturers. The DAPT Study's principal investigator is not an employee of HCRI, has received no direct compensation from Lilly or HCRI for the conduct of this study or otherwise, and has no discretionary control over any portion of the funds paid by Lilly in support of the study.