Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, paid Canadian doctors nearly three-and-a-half times more money than it doled out to U.S. prescribers, according to a Star analysis of the drug maker’s physician payments adjusted for the countries’ populations. Purdue Canada gave just over $2 million to Canadian health-care professionals in 2016 for services such as consulting and delivering speeches on conditions and treatments. That same year, U.S.-based Purdue Pharma L.P. paid American physicians $5.53 million (Canadian), according to a U.S. government database showing the financial ties between Big Pharma and prescribers. Article Continued BelowThe discrepancy between Purdue’s Canadian and U.S. physician payments has doctors and drug safety advocates raising an alarm that the drug maker may be focusing its marketing efforts on Canadian doctors. Purdue Canada would not say if the policy change would be adopted here.

Source: thestar May 04, 2018 02:16 UTC