Drug, medical device industry paid physicians $13.2b in 2024

Drug and medical device companies paid at least $13.2 billion to medical professionals in 2024, according to CMS data released June 30.

There’s been steady growth in these payments over the last few years, which include everything from research payments to free meals to promotional or conference fees. Drug and medical device companies paid out $13.1 billion in 2023, $13.1 in 2022, and $12.6 in 2021.

If you’re a medical provider, you’ve probably gotten one of those perks from a drug or medical device company and thought it wouldn’t affect your decision-making. But research suggests physicians are more likely to prescribe drugs from companies that pay them, with some studies specifically associating this with drugs that are costlier to patients.

“Really well-trained people who affirm an oath to do no harm can be influenced, and are,” Neil Jay Sehgal, associate professor of health systems and population health at the University of Washington School of Public Health, told Healthcare Brew.

Two types of payment. Most of last year’s payout—$8.5 billion—was for research.

“The research payments are what you want to see. You want to see industry and academia working together,” Joseph Ross, an MD and Yale School of Medicine professor of medicine and of public health, told us.

But the companies also doled out $3.3 billion in “general payments,” which are not associated with a study.

The American Medical Association emphasizes in guidance on its website that physician–industry relationships don’t “automatically mean…professional judgment has been influenced inappropriately.” This funding advances medical knowledge and promotes the education of medical professionals, the website notes.

Sehgal countered that “the industry wouldn’t be doing this if they weren’t getting good value for their spend.”

Big spenders. The data shows certain companies have outsized influence. The top five medical device companies by market cap, for instance, paid out a cumulative $379 million in general payments last year to physicians and nonphysician practitioners like physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists.

1. Abbott: $38 million in general payments, $51 million in research payments
2. Boston Scientific Corporation: $60 million general, $30 million research
3. Stryker Corporation: $135 million general, $5 million research
4. Medtronic: $118 million general, $61 million research
5. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation: $28 million general, $65 million research

The five largest drug manufacturers, also ordered here by market cap, paid a cumulative $327 million.

1. Eli Lilly and Company
   1. Eli Lilly and Company: $8 million in general payments, $626 million in research payments
   2. Lilly USA: $46 million general, $5 million research
2. Johnson & Johnson*
   1. Janssen Biotech: $31 million general, $600,000 research
   2. Janssen Pharmaceuticals: $15 million general, $729,000 research
   3. Janssen Research & Development, LLC: $5 million general, $340 million research
3. AbbVie: $156 million general, $428 million research
4. Merck & Company (Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC): $21 million general, $498 million research
5. Amgen Inc: $45 million general, $198 million research

*J&J has eight different companies listed on the Open Payments portal under the Janssen name. We have listed the top three based on the amount paid out.

This data has been published since 2014, thanks to the Physician Payments Sunshine Act—part of the Affordable Care Act—which requires certain medical professionals and teaching hospitals to report any industry gifts or money to the federal government, including payments for research and promotion or consulting work.

In addition to keeping medical professionals and industry accountable for the exchange of smaller gifts and illuminating outliers, Open Payments data can also illuminate instances of bribes or kickbacks.

The government just relaunched a working group to investigate those incidents on July 2.