RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwire - August 17, 2010) - Johnson & Johnson is the latest drug development company to publicly disclose payments to physicians who provide consulting and advisory services or conduct speeches on the company's behalf. And with what appears to be a more detailed system, J&J may have set a new bar for disclosing in-depth physician payments.
Key opinion leader fair-market value (KOL FMV) is one of the key issues driving effective thought leader relationship management. Consulting firm Cutting Edge Information has conducted studies of many processes in key opinion leader speaker compensation. Among these are calculating event costs, setting up and continuously improving the departments responsible for collecting aggregate spend data, and determining a balanced fee schedule for specific activities.
Through this research, Cutting Edge Information has developed guideposts for physician reimbursement strategy and tactics. These include:
* Average payments for many consulting and advisory services, including speaker programs, have trended downwards in recent years.
* Increased scrutiny over physician compensation has led to a shrinking pool of key opinion leaders willing to publicize their personal finances to the world in order to work with the drug and device researchers.
* Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have expanded their FMV procedures to incorporate consultants and advisors not only for commercial and medical teams, but also clinical teams now.
"Johnson and Johnson may be the latest company to publish its records, but it will very likely not be the last," said Jason Richardson, president of Cutting Edge Information. "Companies will continue to face scrutiny of their physician compensation procedures in the drive for transparency."
"Companies that conform to the law while carefully managing relationships with key opinion leaders will be better positioned to overcome the chilling effect on information sharing and medical education," Richardson said.
The company's study, "Thought Leader Fair-Market Value," (http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/thought-leader-fmv/) is backed by data from more than 85 top companies. The research findings provide best practices and case studies of actual KOL FMV fee schedules in 20 therapeutic areas.
About Cutting Edge Information
Cutting Edge Information provides Life Science industry research and consulting support and solutions. For more information about medical affairs strategic management, call Elio Evangelista at 919-403-6583 or visit http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com.
Contact Information:
Elio Evangelista
919-403-6583