SAN DIEGO -- Visit any doctor's office and you'll see drug reps give doctors samples to promote their products. Drug companies are known to lobby doctors and health care providers but until now there was no way to find out how much money doctors were being paid by pharmaceutical companies. 10News I-Team reporter Mitch Blacher found one drug company that is naming names and there are San Diego doctors on the list.

Eli Lilly earned $20 billion in 2008. They manufacture mediciations like depression drugs Prozac and Cymbalta, as well as Cialis for sexual enhancement.

They also pay 3,400 physicians for education and advising.

The I-Team found over 20 San Diego-area doctors on Eli Lilly's new "faculty registry" collectively making about $154,000 in the 1st quarter of 2009. The top earners:

Dr. David Deifel, a psychiatrist and UCSD professor got $46,000

Dr. Jack Schim, an Encenitas neurologist received $14,000

Dr. Donald Balfour, a San Diego physician and surgeon earned $12,000

Dr. Terry Schwartz, an Old Town psychiatrist pulled in $11,100

Dr. Robert Friedman, a San Diego physician and surgeon received $11,100

Drug companies don't have to provide information about how much money they pay doctors. Eli Lilly is the first drug company to name names and dollar amounts. They said it's all about integrity and respect.

"Lilly has been a leader in the industry about being transparent in our business practices," John Lechleiter, Eli Lilly's chairman and CEO, said in a video on the company's Web site.

Lechleiter wasn't available for an interview but said of the doctors on the company Web site, "Their combined efforts help us bring innovative new medicines from the lab bench to the patient's bedside."

A proposed law might make disclosing payments to doctors a legal requirement. The "Physician Payment Sunshine Act" would require manufacturers to report payments of over $100 made to doctors. If passed, the federal law would take effect in 2010.

A similar bill was introduced in 2007, but was not taken up by Congress.

The 10News I-Team contacted the doctors in this investigation and received the following responses:

Dr. Donald Balfour --
“I attended two Managed Care Advisory Boards. Each meeting was three days in length and involved sixteen hours each. We advise them about the usefulness of drugs in their pipeline that are usually five years or more from launch. In addition I would like to say I am not a practicing physician and have not seen a patient since 1993. I do not write prescriptions.”

------------ Dr. Jack Schim --
“I have been a promotional speaker for a variety of companies, including Merck, Pfizer, Boehringer, Allergan, and Lilly for a number of years. These have been FDA sanctioned activities, which are fully PHARMA compliant. I have presented for Eli Lilly regarding their product, Cymbalta. In this context, I have been compensated per fair market value for educational programs, given to health care providers, regarding the diagnoses of diabatic neuropathic pain and of fibromyalgia, including epidemiology, symptom identification and patient presentation, data from clinical trials regarding Cymbalta, dosing and safety information, and application to clinical practice. My patients of course are aware of my educational efforts to facilitate better understanding and care of their disorders.”

Sincerely

Jack Schim, MD

------------ 10News did not receive a statement from Dr. Robert Friedman

------------ Debra Kain, UCSD spokeswoman offered the following statement on behalf of Dr. David Feifel and Dr. Terry Schwartz: “We're very transparent. The whole idea is to be open and above board."

------------ » Read The Eli Lilly Report Online