Remember Dr. Lawrence DuBuske, the Harvard Medical School allergist whom I outed as the highest paid doctor on GlaxoSmithKline's payroll for the second quarter of last year? Rather than give up his lucrative speaking and consulting gigs for Glaxo and myriad other drug companies, DuBuske has decided to part ways with Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, according to The Boston Globe.
Can't say I blame him. DuBuske, after all, earned a whopping $99,375 from just Glaxo in only three months last year, as I reported here. He also was getting speaking bucks from Schering-Plough, Merck and Sanofi-Aventis. Indeed, as the disclosures in a March 2009 journal article show, DuBuske is basically on the speaking payroll of every pharmaceutical company that makes or markets allergy drugs in this country.
So when DuBuske was notified that his speaking gigs are now in direct violation of Partners' new conflict-of-interest policy, he chose to keep the income and dispense with the titles. He only saw patients at Brigham's on a consult basis, after all, and was a part-time instructor at Harvard Medical School.
DuBuske, however, is also director of the Immunology Research Institute of New England, a nonprofit Gardner-based organization that works with medical researchers throughout Eastern Europe on educational programs and clinical studies of new allergy drugs. It is no doubt his work with this institute and all those bargain-priced clinical researchers in Eastern Europe that makes DuBuske so valuable to allergy drug makers. You can bet he's not giving that gig up.
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To those of you who call Dr. DuBuske a drug pusher, take a look at the GSK report (http://gsk-us.com/docs-pdf/responsibility/hcp-fee-disclosure-2q2009.pdf) only to learn that Dr. Joshua Boyce, Co-Director of the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston is also on that same list.
If Dr. DuBuske has done “lucrative speaking and consulting gigs for Glaxo” as you say, than what is Dr. Boyce doing. Certainly not resigning from BWH!
Here is an idea for your next article...
“Doctor does not quit Brigham and speaks for pay”.
Did you overlook that one, Alison?
As you may recall, I was targeting the highest paid doctors on GlaxoSmithKline's payroll in my blog. Dr. Boyce only received $4,000 from GSK during the second quarter of 2009 -- a paltry sum compared to DuBuske's $99,375. I would wager that Boyce has probably agreed to abide by Partners' new conflict of interest policies going forward. Why don't you ask, Yurly?
Yes, sure, Alison.
Your point is that Dr. Boyce’s pharmaceutical lectures are less biased only because he received less money than Dr. DuBuske.
After a quick google search I noticed that Dr. Boyce has plenty of pharma conflicts of interest.
Joshua Boyce, MD
From Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass
E-mail address: jboyce@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: J. Boyce has consulting arrangements with Altana and Tanox and is on the speakers' bureau for GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and Novartis.
I would not be surprised to see that he goes back to lecturing for pharma companies after Partner’s guidelines change in a few years.
Therefore, make them ALL evil rather than focusing on one person in order to afford the publicity you are so desperately seeking!
Allison, don't listen to this Yuriy character. I'm a PhD candidate studying I/O Psychology and looking into the leadership and organizational failings that contribute to all the shady things that you are uncovering. I've been scanning Side Effects on Google Books. My hat is off to you. Keep up the wonderful work.
Ron
Can't say I blame him. DuBuske, after all, earned a whopping $99,375 from just Glaxo in only three months last year, as I reported here. He also was getting speaking bucks from premature ejaculation Schering-Plough, Merck and Sanofi-Aventis. Indeed, as the disclosures in a March 2009 journal article show, DuBuske is basically on the speaking payroll of every pharmaceutical company that makes or markets allergy drugs in this country.
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