Explosive revelation: in 5 years, Big Pharma has offered 818 million euros to influential doctors in France
KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) or the formidable weapon used by Big Pharma to fill up loved ones. In any case, in the midst of a health crisis where the links between laboratories and scientists have already aroused great indignation, a study carried out by French researchers risks causing a strong outcry in France.
Indeed, according to this study relayed by the media Le Quotidien du Médecin , the pharmaceutical industry grants significant (financial) gifts to KOL doctors to sell its products. The amounts released are staggering. According to the Quotidien du Médecin, between 2014 and 2019, manufacturers channeled 6 billion euros (worldwide) to doctors, including 3 billion euros in remuneration and 1.7 billion in gifts in kind. According to the same source, 548 influencer doctors are in France.
“Unsurprisingly, the KOLs are more spoiled than the others. While opinion leaders only represent 0.24% of practitioners in France, they alone account for 0.68% of the total number of gifts and 1.5% of the total value of these benefits in kind. On average, an influencer doctor received the equivalent of 3,700 euros in gifts per year. And 99% of medical associations had at least one member of its board of directors for whom a gift had been declared”, reveals the source.
In its investigative work, Lecourrier-du-soir.com had access to the study in question in its original and complete version. And the figures that are revealed there are mind-blowing. Thus, from 2017 to 2019, 1.67 million contractual agreements were declared for an amount of 125 million euros.
The study also reveals that in France, between 2014 and 2019, 7,354,492 gifts were declared for an amount of 818 million euros. The gifts granted to the KOLs were estimated at 12.3 million euros, or 3,700 euros in gifts per year for each KOL. In the midst of a health crisis, this study risks causing an earthquake in the media world.
- Source : Sheikh Dieng
