US Senator Grassley continues work for transparency of drug company money in medicine; patent settlement ban off House agenda?

US Senator Charles Grassley (Republican, Iowa, and Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance) has asked leaders among pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to describe their efforts to enhance the transparency of financial benefits they receive from drug makers. He also requested the PBMs' views on recommendations from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission that PBMs be subject to a national disclosure requirement.

The bipartisan Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which Sen Grassley co-authored with Senator Herb Kohl (Democrat, Wisconsin), would require annual public reporting by drug, device and biologic manufacturers of payments made to physicians nationwide.

For several years, Sen Grassley has conducted extensive oversight and sought disclosure of industry financial ties with several groups including research physicians, medical schools, medical journals, continuing medical education companies and patient advocacy non-profit organizations. He has found cases where there was vast disparity between drug-company payments received and reported by leading medical researchers.