Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
Click the orange button to the right to learn more about what you can start doing today.
- You are here:
- Home »
- Blog »
- Multiple Myeloma »
- Payments to Your Myeloma Oncologist?
Payments to Your Myeloma Oncologist?
“It’s no secret that many oncologists have financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies. They receive payments for research initiatives, but they also receive more general, personal payments..”
You are an oncologist who manages patients with multiple myeloma. A company offers to give you money. In some cases, the pharmaceutical company that produces many of the drugs that you might prescribe to your patients with MM offers to give you lots of money.
Or let’s say that you are a newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patient. You find out that your oncologist is given money by one or more of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture your chemotherapy drugs.
What payments to oncologists are okay in your mind? How much of a payment can influence your oncologist’s judgment?
Do outside payments by pharmaceutical companies increase your risks in any ways?
It’s not for me to say what could influence your oncologist. Nor is it for me to tell you if money given by pharmaceutical companies influence your oncologists actions.
But it is something for you to think about. Ask your oncologist.
If you work with a MM specialist who is listed below, cut and paste his/her name into the “Open Payments” search box. Several specialists I searched were given hundreds of dollars. Several of the MM specialists I searched made millions of dollars a year.
I’m genuinely curious to read what you have to say about this issue. Scroll down the page, post a question or comment.
To Learn More About Myeloma Specialists and Hospitals- click now
Thanks for your help,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
- Multiple Myeloma Diagnosis – A How-To Guide
- Multiple Myeloma Chemotherapy = Accelerated Aging
- A Long-term Multiple Myeloma Survivor’s Diet, Nutrition Plan-
$150K: Average Industry Payment to Top 1% of Oncs
“A small number of US medical oncologists make more than $100,000 a year in general payments from drug companies, a new study shows.
These high-payment physicians represent just 1% of all US medical oncologists, yet they account for 37% of industry payments. These oncologists often hold important leadership positions, draft treatment guidelines, and sit on journal editorial boards.
The findings highlight a risk for “perceived and real conflict of interest…”
“Because of the leadership positions they hold, the potential impact of this small group of physicians on oncology practice and policy may be substantial.”
The study was published online June 16 in JCO Oncology Practice…
“We Have a Problem”
It’s no secret that many oncologists have financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies. They receive payments for research initiatives, but they also receive more general, personal payments in the form of honoraria, consultant fees, gifts, and reimbursement for travel and meals.
Prior studies have shown that these payments are typically modest, but a small subset of medical oncologists receive more than $100,000 annually. Booth and colleagues wanted to know more about the characteristics of these “high-payment” oncologists.
Using the national Open Payments database, the researchers identified a total of 139 medical oncologists who practice in the US and who received $100,000 or more in general payments linked to cancer medications in 2018.
In US dollars, the median payment was $154,613, and the total was $24.2 million…
Pharma Payments to Oncologists in Spotlight Once Again
“Pharmaceutical company payments to oncologists are again in the spotlight, with a new analysis documenting how a small group of specialists have received huge payments, prompting concerns that greed may be influencing prescribing.
That analysis was published a month ago, as already reported by Medscape Medical News, but a recent editorial discusses the issue in some detail; it was published July 14 in JCO Oncology Practice.
The analysis found that a group of high-profile oncologists each received more than $100,000 in general payments associated with specific marketed cancer drugs in 2018.
This group was composed of 139 medical oncologists, and accounted for only 1% of all US oncologists…
The findings highlight a risk for “perceived and real conflict of interest,” corresponding author on the analysis, Christopher Booth, MD, of Queen’s University Cancer Research Center, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, told Medscape at the time the study was published…
“Because of the leadership positions they hold, the potential impact of this small group of physicians on oncology practice and policy may be substantial,” he commented…”
Increasing Financial Payments From Industry to Medical Oncologists in the United States, 2014-2017
“Personal payments from the pharmaceutical industry to US physicians are common and are associated with changes in physicians’ clinical practice and interpretation of clinical trial results. We assessed temporal trends in industry payments to oncologists, with particular emphasis on payments to authors of oncology clinical practice guideline and on payments related to immunotherapy drugs…
Pharmaceutical industry payments increased for US oncologists from 2014 to 2017 more than for general internists. The increase was greater among oncologists contributing to clinical practice guidelines and among pharmaceutical companies marketing PD-1/PD-L1 drugs. The increasing flow of money from industry to US oncologists supports ongoing concern regarding commercial interests in guideline development and clinical decision-making…”
Personal Payments from Pharmaceutical Companies to Authors of Oncology Clinical Practice Guidelines
“Oncologists who author clinical practice guidelines frequently have financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry. It is unknown whether participation on clinical practice guideline committees is associated with differences in the amounts of industry money received…
Conclusion: Medical oncologists selected to NCCN Guidelines committees had greater financial ties to industry than their peers. The potential influence of industry in oncology clinical practice guidelines may be reduced through the selection of committee members with fewer ties to industry..”