LANSING – In a move to protect consumers, Rep. Fred Miller (D-Mount Clemens) has introduced a plan that compels drug companies to reveal all safety test results, including those that show negative side effects. The drug industry does not currently have to reveal safety test results or marketing expenses – important information that can save lives.
"More openness means more information, and that can make the difference between life and death," Miller said. "Full disclosure of safety test results – especially negative results that drug companies want to hide from us – will protect our consumers. We need more sunshine on the powerful drug industry and give consumers and their doctors the tools they need to make important decisions."
The plan Miller introduced today bans companies and other entities from access to state funding for clinical tests if they refuse to fully publicize safety test results of prescription drugs they make and sell. The results must be posted on a Web site to be maintained by the Department of Community Health. The companies and entities must also agree to register the results with the clinical tests data bank maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Miller's proposal is part of a House Democratic package introduced on Wednesday that also requires drug companies to fully disclose how they spend their marketing money and that bans lavish gifts to doctors, such as extravagant trips and meals. The plan:
· Requires companies to report all drug advertising and marketing expenditures, including gifts to doctors and other health care workers;
· Requires companies to report research and development expenditures;
· Bans lavish gifts from drug companies to doctors and limits gifts to $100 a year;
· Requires drug companies to report all test results for all drugs sold in Michigan;
· Imposes tough civil fines on companies that don't reveal test results, all marketing expenses and gifts, or provide inaccurate results; and
· Establishes a Web site that also shows drug company marketing expenses and all gifts to doctors, to be maintained by the Department of Community Health.