Report: More than half of all US doctors get money from pharma each year

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Bill Diodato)

Drug makers and medical device makers are still spending between $2.1 billion and $2.2 billion a year to woo doctors into prescribing and using their products, according to a new investigation by ProPublica.

Between 2014 and 2018, more than 600,000 of the approximately 1.1 million doctors in the US received at least one payment from industry in any given year. The payments were for things including speaking fees, consulting, meals, gifts, travel, and royalties.

While thousands of doctors have made $100,000 or more, more than 2,500 received $500,000 or more in the five-year period-and those payments do not include royalties. More than 700 received at least $1 million.

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