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Senate investigating J&J payments to psychiatric associations

Pharma Compliance Alert, November 12, 2008

The Senate Committee on Finance is looking into Johnson & Johnson’s payments or benefits to specified psychiatrists associated with psychiatric professional associations, the company stated in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

J&J received a letter October 23 requesting information about payments for 24 psychiatrists, including Stanford University professor Alan Schatzberg, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and current APA president Nada Stotland.

In June, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), ranking member of the committee, criticized Schatzberg for failing to disclose his investment in a company whose depression drug he was studying. In September, Grassley criticized University of Texas researcher Karen Wagner for not disclosing more than $150,000 in consulting and speaking fees she received from GlaxoSmithKline while working on studies involving the company’s antidepressant Paxil. Grassley has criticized other universities, including Stanford, Harvard, and the University of Cincinnati.

Grassley also asked J&J to provide information about payments to physicians who use its Cypher drug-coated stent.

Grassley and Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced the Physician Payments Sunshine Act in 2007. The act would require pharmaceutical and medical device companies to disclose all payments to physicians. The bill is still under consideration.

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