As brand-name drug prices reached new highs in 2016, drug companies also significantly increased the amount of money given to New Jersey doctors, the latest data shows.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers gave $69 million to state doctors in 2016, a 17 percent increase over 2015, according to new data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The 2016 data represents a 21 percent increase from 2014, the first full year of data from the federal government.
That money was not distributed equally. The top 300 of the 30,000 doctors listed in the data received two-thirds of the pharmaceutical money.
Doctors in New Jersey received a median total of $124 over the course of a year. But the top 300 took in a median amount of $62,500.
"There are an enormous number of doctors that accept little to no compensation, while there are a small number that take a lot," said Dr. Caleb Alexander, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness. "They represent a very different beast."
Pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to pay doctors to prescribe medication. They are, however, allowed to pay doctors to speak at conferences, teach at education programs, and consult on medications.
"How much of it is related to the product is hard to say. ... But it introduces the potential for conflicts of interest," Alexander said.
There is some evidence the money changes prescription habits, too. A ProPublica analysis found that doctors who get pharmaceutical money tend to prescribe more brand-name drugs.
"There is no doubt that this money would not be spent unless it had an influence," said Dr. Arthur Caplan, head of the Division of Bioethics at New York University.
One subset of the data went through a major change: Payments related to prescription opioids fell drastically between 2015 and 2016.
Almost all of that drop came from how much INSYS Therapeutics gave out for Subsys, a prescription fentanyl that has come under scrutiny for its marketing tactics. Several company officials were indicted in December for allegedly bribing doctors to prescribe the drug at high-class dinners falsely reported as speeches.
INSYS handed out about $52,000 in 2016, according to federal data; in comparison, the company gave out a reported $413,000 in 2015 and $241,000 in 2014. It accounted for more than two-thirds of all opioid payments over those three years.
Meanwhile, payments for Belbuca, Opana and Nucynta each increased tenfold. Opana ER recently became the first opioid taken off the market by the Food and Drug Administration for being too easy to abuse.
Other drugmakers that reduced spending may be responding to recent pushback. In the last year, 25 local and state governments have filed lawsuits with opioid manufacturers and distributors, accusing them of responsibility for the current opioid crisis.
New Jersey has joined a multi-state investigation into drugmakers, but has yet to file a suit.
Erin Petenko may be reached at epetenko@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @EPetenko. Find NJ.com on Facebook.