Two US Senators Probe Drugmaker Grants

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http://news./news?tmpl=story & cid=584 & e=8 & u=/nm/20050610/pl_nm/congress_drugs_dc

Two U.S. senators probe drugmaker grantsFri Jun 10, 5:51 PM ETWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators said on Friday they were concerned drugmakers were using educational grants to U.S. states and others as promotional tools and asked about two dozen companies to explain the practice. Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record), an Iowa Republican, and Sen. Max Baucus (news, bio, voting record), a Montana Democrat, said they wanted to make sure the grants were not a "backdoor way to funnel money to doctors and other individuals who can influence prescribing and purchasing of particular prescription medicines."Grassley chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and Baucus is the committee's highest-ranking Democrat.In a letter to the drugmakers, the senators asked the firms to explain their policies for awarding grants, detail how much they spend and state whether any money is meant to promote medicines for unapproved, or "off-label," uses. They asked the firms to provide the information by June 30.Grassley and Baucus said they were concerned about the impact of drug company marketing on the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs. Federal spending on prescription drugs for both programs is expected to cost $100 billion in 2006."Marketing practices that increase the rates at which drugs are prescribed, particularly for off-label uses, are of concern because they have the potential to increase program costs and may encourage the use of typically newer, more expensive drugs that have not been proven superior to existing treatments," the senators wrote.The letter was sent to top companies, including Pfizer Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Merck & Co. Inc. .Merck will provide "appropriate information" to the committee about its educational grants, company spokesman Chris Loder said. He said Merck's grants were compliant with laws governing medical education, as well as guidelines set by the industry and the federal government."Merck firmly believes that such education provides value to health-care professionals that may improve the practice of medicine and, therefore, patient outcomes," Loder said.Officials at other companies that received the committee's request were not available for comment. ========

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