Legal Minute: Billion-Dollar Speaker Scheme!

Speaker programs are events sponsored by drug and device companies where a physician or other healthcare professional (HCP) delivers a speech or presentation to fellow HCPs regarding a specific drug, device product, or disease state on behalf of the sponsoring company. Typically, the company compensates the speaker with an honorarium and may also provide remuneration, such as free meals, to attendees. Between 2017 and 2020, drug and device companies reportedly paid nearly $2 billion to HCPs f...