Four senators want to know more about Pfizer and Eli Lilly’s partnerships with telehealth providers, and whether that may lead to inappropriate prescribing.
In two letters dated Monday, the lawmakers led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) questioned Pfizer and Lilly about how they compensate telehealth partners, and whether prescribers are encouraged to recommend specific products sold by the companies.
Both Pfizer and Lilly launched direct-to-consumer platforms this year, dubbed LillyDirect and PfizerForAll. Each website features links to promotional materials for the companies’ medications, as well as links to schedule a telehealth appointment.
“This creates the impression that any patient interested in a particular medication can indeed receive it with just a few clicks,” the senators wrote. The letters are also signed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Peter Welch (D-VT).
The senators said the telehealth platforms may violate federal anti-kickback law, which bars companies from paying “anything of value” to drive business around drugs paid for by federal programs. Pfizer and Lilly were asked by the senators to answer a series of questions by Nov. 25, including what percentage of telehealth patients receive a prescription for a drug sold by Pfizer or Lilly, and how telehealth clinicians review patients’ medical histories and records.
A Lilly spokesperson told Endpoints News on Tuesday that its telehealth partners are “fully independent from Lilly, exercise autonomous clinical judgment in evaluating and making care decisions, are not incentivized to prescribe Lilly medicines and do not provide any compensation to Lilly for referrals.”
“We look forward to explaining to Sens. Durbin, Warner, Welch and Sanders how LillyDirect helps patients manage their chronic disease,” the spokesperson said.
UpScriptHealth, a telehealth provider named in the senators’ letter to Pfizer, said its clinicians are not incentivized in any way to prescribe.
“They are also not incentivized to prescribe one specific medication over another medication. In addition, clinicians on the UpScript platform spend whatever amount of time is necessary to diagnose and treat patients, which does not significantly differ from the time spent when clinicians meet patients in a face to face setting,” UpScriptHealth CEO Peter Ax told Endpoints.
Pfizer did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.