QUI TAM, THE OIG AND CIAs… IT REALLY MATTERS.

[3-minute read] In November 2020, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in the USA issued a Special Fraud Alert – entitled Speaker Programs. In seven concise pages the OIG sent out a ‘warning shot across the bows’ of the industry, sounding an alarm that they were focusing on the way in which speaker programs were conceived and delivered. It is worth noting that once issued, the OIG does not have to do much more. Under the Qui Tam law, if a company employee successfully whistle blows on their organisation, they can share 10-30% of the final settlement agreement. Given settlements of $3bn (GSK), $2.3bn (Pfizer), and $2.2bn (J&J) in recent years, the motivation to report on any unsuitable practices is quite a powerful one. In addition to a fine, miscreant companies have had to sign up to Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAs) lasting five or more years, which place their business in special measures. These environmental dynamics are important. We are conscious that the industry is watched closely and scrutineers want to know why certain physicians, HCPs, patients, and others have been engaged by industry. At MMRG we only examine public domain data that objectively reflects someone’s interest, expertise and prowess in a specified therapeutic condition. We never incorporate prescription data, insurance claims information or payment disclosure data as part of our assessment of someone’s status in their therapeutic condition. When we offer to research a therapeutic condition - in order to find, profile and segment physicians and other clinicians as subject matter experts, opinion leaders, or influencers – we do so on the basis that every bit of data is in the public domain; and the methodology we deploy in analysing the data is transparent and clear.