Senate Revises Bill That Would Require Drug, Medical Device Makers To Publicly Report Payments, Gifts to Physicians

The Senate has revised a bill that would require drug and medical device manufacturers to publicly report payments and gifts to physicians, Reuters/New York Times reports. The previous bill required all gifts valued at $25 or more to be disclosed, but that amount has been increased to $500 under the revised legislation (Reuters/New York Times, 5/14). The revised bill also requires all drug and medical device makers to report gifts, rather than only companies with more than $100 million in annual revenue, the AP/Chicago Tribune reports. Eli Lilly on Tuesday endorsed the bill because of the payment and gift amount revisions (Freking, AP/Chicago Tribune, 5/13). The legislation would require the companies to begin disclosing payments on March 31, 2011, and it would pre-empt several state laws that require drug makers to disclose payments to physicians (CongressDaily, 5/14).