• Reuters, Thursday, April 1, 2010 10:57 AM

Pfizer says it paid $35 million to about 4,500 doctors and researchers from July through December 2009 for a variety of services, Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot report.

About $15.3 million of the total went to about 250 research organizations for clinical trials or studies. About 1,500 healthcare professionals were paid an average of $5,000 for advice; about 2,800 doctors were paid an average of $3,400 to lecture peers about Pfizer's drugs, the company said.

Speaking engagements have been among the most controversial marketing practices in the pharmaceutical industry but Freda Lewis-Hall, Pfizer's chief medical officer, maintains they allow practicing physicians to share their knowledge with other doctors. "We work very hard to make sure our speakers have the full range of data and information we have, and that they share it appropriately," she says.

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