Pharmaceutical Maker Backs Senate Health Transparency Measure

Pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company has announced its support of the newly revised Physicians Payments Sunshine Act, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Herbert Kohl (D-Wisc.). The bipartisan bill would establish a national registry of payments to physicians by medical device, medical supply and pharmaceutical companies.

Lilly is the first pharmaceutical research company to back such federal legislation, which is similar to various laws in place in several states, the company says in a statement.

"Lilly welcomes greater transparency in the health care system and believes this legislation represents an important step in building public trust and confidence in the relationships between the pharmaceutical and device industries and physicians," says John Lechleiter, president and chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Company. "Lilly intends to continue to build upon its leadership position in transparency. In addition to our publicly available clinical trial and educational grant registries, we continue to look at other ways to open up our business to
the public. This will help provide the assurance that Lilly runs its business consistent not only with our principles, but with the principles that a healthcare provider or patient should expect from a pharmaceutical company."

Noting the benefits of the federal standard for reporting payments to doctors, Lechleiter adds, "A key strength of the Grassley-Kohl bill is that it would create a uniform national standard for reporting physician payments. This helps patients, businesses and doctors alike by setting
expectations and creating a more efficient system for gathering, reporting and understanding such data."

"Lilly is proud of the longstanding relationships we have with physicians," says Dr. Jack Harris, M.D., Lilly's vice president, U.S. Medical Division. "Physicians perform valuable services for the biopharmaceutical industry, such as enrolling and caring for patients in clinical trials. They also give lectures to other medical professionals to educate them about new treatment options. For these services they are compensated at market rates. Moreover, these services help to advance the science related to medicines and are important to both current and future patients who rely
on pharmaceuticals as part of their therapy."

Support for the Grassley-Kohl bill is the newest addition to what Lilly terms its "transparency agenda." In 2004, Lilly became the first company to voluntarily make public its clinical trials and its clinical trials data, the firm says. And last year Lilly says it added another first by publicly reporting all of its educational grants and charitable contributions and, each quarter, posting the data online at http://www.lillygrantoffice.com/.

Grassley has recognized Lilly's efforts. In February, Grassley sent 15 companies a letter about transparency and singled out Lilly's leadership, according to Lilly. That letter read in part:
"I'm asking other pharmaceutical organizations to follow Lilly's lead and show the public there's nothing to hide."

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