Industry payments to allergists and clinical immunologists in the United States during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

The intersection of the sunshine act, sutton's law, and the pandemic

“…The analysis by Murayama et al 1 is consistent with earlier evidence by Tringale et al, 6 who showed allergists-immunologists received one of the largest general payments in the country in 2015. In this study, approximately 48% of all US physicians received a total of $2.5 billion in industry payments in 1 year alone.…”

“…In this issue of the Annals , Murayama et al 1 report the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on industry payments to US allergists-immunologists, finding that the specialty received $99,444,136 between 2014 and 2020. Using the Open Payments Database, the authors performed a cross-sectional study using all general payments made for personal purposes to physicians whose primary specialty was allergy or clinical immunology.…”

“…Notably, a significant percentage of payments related to biologic agents, including Dupixent (9.6% of payments totaling $9,508,972), Xolair (8.3% of payments totaling $8,235,740), Fasenra (6.4% of payments totaling $6,345,192), Cinryze (6.1% of payments totaling $6,085,639), and Nucala (3.0% of payments totaling $3,029,453). 1 This is a stark finding given the evidence that biologic agents are overpriced, which is based on cost-effectiveness studies that indicate a need for price reduction by at least 50% to 60%. 2…”

“…During the pandemic, the number of physicians receiving payments decreased significantly, likely reflecting the impact of travel restrictions and increased availability of virtual meetings. 1 For example, during the pandemic, payments for travel decreased by more than 94%. Industry payments for lodging decreased by 82.5% at the beginning of the pandemic, whereas decreases for gifts (21.5% decrease), education (22.2% decrease), and consulting services (23.8% decrease) were more attenuated.…”

“…Murayama et al 1 present us with nearly a hundred million reasons why as a specialty we need to be careful. We must be aware of the subtle influence of financial relationships.…”