Novo Nordisk’s Victoza Tops List of Drug Payments to Physicians

Novo Nordisk paid more than $9 million to physicians for promotion of its diabetes drug Victoza in the last five months of 2013, topping the list of drugs that were responsible for the most physician payments during the first reporting period covered by the CMS Open Payments database.

The bulk of the drugs on the list are blood-thinners vying to replace Coumadin (warfarin), followed by antipsychotics and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Most are relatively new, having received FDA approval since 2010. The only older drug that made the list, Humira, was approved in 2002.

Following Victoza (liraglutide[rDNA origin] injection) at  $9.07 million; the rest of the list is as follows:

• Bristol-Myers Squibb, $7.99 million for anticoagulant Eliquis (apixaban);
• AstraZeneca, $7.71 million for the blood-thinner Brilinta (ticagrelor);
• Johnson & Johnson, $7.16 million for its type 2 diabetes drug Invokana (canagliflozin);
• Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, $7.03 million for atypical antipsychotic Latuda (lurasidone) for schizophrenia;
• Bayer, $6.93 million for blood-thinner Xarelto (rivaroxiban);
• AbbVie, $5.58 million for anti-inflammatory Humira (adalimumab) for a number of autoimmune indications, including arthritis, Crohn’s disease and ankylosing spondylitis;
• Forest, $5.31 million for Tudorza (aclidinium bromide inhalation powder) and $5.2 million for Daliresp (roflumilast), both for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;
• Otsuka, $5 million for Abilify Maintena (aripiprazole) for schizophrenia.

The database, which tracks fees and other gratuities drugmakers pay doctors under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, went live in September. Nonprofit news organization ProPublica culled the database to find the 10 drugs responsible for the most payments. — Lena Freund