Australian drug companies forked out more than $30 million in six months hosting doctors at controversial “educational” events, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Medicines Australia, the industry trade group, has been forced to detail spending on doctor seminars of up to $2,500 a head, often hosted at expensive hotels and in exotic locations. A report prepared for Medicines Australia by international consulting firm Deloitte shows that 42 companies spent $31 million, including $16.4 million on direct hospitality costs like meals, flights and hotels, in the second half of last year.

In one case, AstraZeneca paid $514,000 to host a national symposium for 226 gastroenterologists in Melbourne - a cost of $2,275 a head. There were 385,221 attendances by doctors at 14,643 functions over the period. Of these, 52 unidentified events are now under investigation for possible breaches of the industry’s new strict code of conduct, imposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to improve transparency.

Want to see which drugmaker spent how much? Look at the list….

The watchdog said public reporting was in response to public concern about excessive spending, lavish entertaining and questions about the firms’ “undue influence” over those who write prescriptions, The Herald writes, while adding that pharma critics say the figures represent an “orgy of wining and dining” and were proof the events were more about marketing than education.

But Medicines Australia chief exec Ian Chalmers defended the spending, saying companies have a responsibility to ensure that docs are kept informed about any new or improved use of prescription medicines. “No one knows more about pharmaceuticals than the people who make them, so dialogue between those who manufacture medicines and those who prescribe them is critically important to all Australian patients,” he tells the Herald.

Australian Medical Association president Rosanna Capolingua argued the seminars were necessary for docs. “It is a great advantage for doctors who attend these education seminars to be able to interrogate the manufacturers of the medicine, discuss and look at the data, and gain knowledge before prescribing it for their patients,” she tells the paper, and says spending had actually been forecast to be more than five times higher.

But Paul Frijters, a professor of economics at Queensland University of Technology, says the figure appeared to be a gross underestimation, describing it as a fudged report with “repeated blanks and non-disclosures.”

Peter Mansfield, a general practitioner and director of international anti-drug lobby group Healthy Scepticism, says several studies showed docs were influenced to make prescribing decisions based on repeated exposure to brand names at such events. Without more detailed info, like which drug was promoted at each event to contrast with national health priorities, the report was of little value, he contends. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant but these companies clearly don’t want to come out into the sun,” he tells the Herald.

Newcastle academic Ray Moynihan, a vocal critic of drug company marketing, described the events list as an “orgy of wining and dining designed to schmooze doctors and boost the sales of new medicines. It confirms what we’ve been saying,” Moynihan tells the paper. “These events are not about education and they shouldn’t be happening.”