According to the report, cardiologists were paid $4,800 per patient if a patient enrolled in a study.
Some of Biotronik’s sales officials are alleged to have asked company executives to coordinate unscientific studies to compete with competitors who may have been conducting “sham studies” as a way to funnel money to physicians to encourage the use of their products, according to the report. However, Thomas V. Brown, executive vice president at Biotronik’s American subsidiary, maintains that he and other company executives refused to do so and that all studies conducted were scientific.
Executives and consultants at Biotronik haven’t been charged with wrongdoing from an ongoing Department of Justice investigation of its sales and marketing practices, but sales tactics influencing which products surgeons use could be problematic, according to the report. Because surgeons don’t have independent studies to determine which implants work best, the company’s sales tactics may play a role in the surgeon’s decision about using the implants.
Investigators are also looking at other types of relationships between the Biotronik and cardiologists. Biotronik documents show that the company recruited implant specialists as consultants as well as general cardiologists, who may have referred patients to the surgeons who use Biotronik implants. In some cases, referring physicians declined to refer patients to surgeons unless they used Biotronik implants.
Read the New York Times report on industry relationships with cardiologists.
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Physician-Owned Device Companies: A New Warning Bell is Rung
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Neurosurgeon Under Investigation After Potentially Inappropriate Ties to Spine Device Company
