How Much Does A Key Opinion Leader Get Paid?
14 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // June 16th, 2011 // 11:24 am
The answer may be ‘a lot,’ but that, of course, depends on your perspective. Is $182 per hour a lot? How about $625? There is a range, naturally, reflecting whether the physician who doubles as a so-called key opinion leader is a specialist or primary care physician. But for those wondering just how much drugmakers are willing to pay, here are some figures…
Specialists earn a base rate of $324 an hour, but those with a subspecialty earn an added 25 percent, or $404, according to a survey of 26 drugmakers by Cutting Edge Information, a market research firm. The maximum hourly rate for both types of KOL is $625, although subspecialists start at $250 per hour, compared with $100 for a regular specialist.
As for primary care physicians, the hourly rate range is $200 to $300, with an average of $235. From there, payments slide to $192, on average, for mid-level providers and $182 an hour, on average, for allied healthcare professionals. By the way, a query of a subset of drugmakers found that the average annual compensation limit for individual KOLs is slightly more than $67,000.
pic thx to jerome kassirer
EddieVos
Do a Google for “dollars for doctors” and there’s a website that, while incomplete, lists yearly payments to doctors. Add http://www. in front of
propublica.org/series/dollars-for-docs
A search will find your doctor if paid by pharma.
Stuart Wilensky
What is the source for this information?
Ed Silverman
Hi Stuart,
The source is Cutting Edge Information, a market research firm that conducted a survey. I mentioned this in the piece.
Hope this helps,
ed
Stuart Wilensky
Oops! I read it too fast. Thanks Ed.
Elio Evangelista
Disclaimer: I work for Cutting Edge Information and led the study that includes the data in Ed’s post.
After speaking with several executives at various drug manufacturers, it’s difficult to use the ProPublica information to set fair-market value benchmarks. For now, ProPublica is focused on aggregating data for individual physicians to show how much a doctor can receive from the industry in any given year.
But it’s important for drug manufacturers to know what fair-market value is because 1) regulatory fines and audits prevent companies from overpaying physicians and 2) they want to keep costs down while continuing to work with medical experts.
We have much more information on this topic at http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/medical-affairs/thought-leader-fmv/
Pharma $ Baby
This information doesn’t go that far back, rather far enough back! Big Pharma has completely bastardized CME’s, Medical Journals and numerous Medical Societies. Information is more valuable than Gold, but the drug companies have tainted all the information for decades.
There are Dr’s out there, who are KOL’s who undoubtedly only come into the office once a month to sign documents, have hired PA’s and NP’s to treat their patient base, and do nothing but pitch drugs on their road show for about 2 grand a clip; plus expenses! That study they just co-authored that was published in XYZ was really Ghost written by Saten’s Pharma Marketing Department, and hey they want to make a DVD of their talk too, for all the reps to pass out like bubble gum for 1 or 2 hours of CME!
The going rate for that just a few years ago was 10 - 25 K, and the company negotiates who retains the copy rights!
Sickening!! Literally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
original industry insider
In addition to my usual hourly rate of $375/hour I also charge $150/hour for travel time when I drive myself, or my usual hourly rate when I’m taking a train, plane or chauffered limo (at the company’s expense of course), justified by the fact that I’m working on client’s business the whole time. My daily rate is $1500, which is actually on the low side ($2500/day is closer to the average in my geographic area), but I give my more frequent clients a volume discount. Plus, with Obamataxation on the horizon, any extra income eventually will go to Uncle Sam.
I could be charging 25% more based on these data, but then I would be in competition with my tax attorneys who like to brag about their fees. I also don’t wish to be seen as ripping off clients.
Pharma $ Baby
Well Bully to you giving you high volume companies a discount! That just really make you even more credible!
Doc
Limit at my company is $100k per year.
original industry insider
Doc, in the “good old days” one of my former bosses in academia received $100,000 for a single 30 minute appearance on The Merv Griffin Show to promote a product he was a KOL for.
As the comedian Yakov Smirnov used to say “What a Country!”.
Pharma$ Baby maybe you meant to say incredible, but I’ll forgive the typo. And yes, you’re welcome.
Dan
As a drug rep with big pharma, I use to pay docs 1500 dollars to speak maybe 15 minutes- about anything that they wished to speak of, with other doctors.
Pharma $ Baby
Dan the man!! Exactly! What about the guys that ride with rep? Breakfast, Lunch Dinner thats a $6,000 day, every day plus expenses!
Smells to high heaven!
EddieVos
According to http://www.propublica.org/series/dollars-for-docs Peter Libby from Harvard was paid $28,000 during the last 6 months of 2009 for TRAVEL by Pfizer. Must be Air Force One.
Ah, well, he’s the one promoting inflammation as the cause of much, rather than the result of much and there must be money in that.
Justice in MI
Late on this–
I’m not sure the numbers mean anything without a graph showing the _range_ of total compensation (say, per year) and precisely how “KOL” is being defined. We also have to know how “hourly” commitment is being defined. Does it include “preparation,” “opportunity costs,” schmoozing with company reps, yadayada?