Pharma medical specialists sitting on advisory boards, listing, marketing their drugs

Advisory boards are groups of medical professionals hired to meet and consult with a pharmaceutical company about its product. The medicos might advise on how to get the drug through regulation hoops, on the appropriateness of marketing materials, or how the drug can be dispensed for greatest reach.

As with the fictional fight club, these meetings are secret; doctors involved sign confidentiality agreements and very rarely do companies disclose who their adviser-doctors are. Now we know how much money – but not which doctors – are getting paid.

Read Directions: Advise, Get Paid, Keep Quiet
by Clare Blumer, Digital Global Mail Ltd, 27 Aug 2013