We have learned that transparency in our business operations is the best way to build trust with stakeholders. Patients and physicians are seeking more and better information about diseases and treatments. By listening and responding to our stakeholders’ concerns, we can improve our transparency and the way we do business.
Lilly is a strong believer in transparency, as evidenced by our announcements over the years of making public both our clinical trials data and our grants. We believe that it takes the whole community to rebuild trust in medicine, and we want to do our part.
In 2009, Lilly launched our Faculty Registry, an online accounting of recent payments made to physicians and other health care professionals. Lilly faculty members are an important part of our efforts to inform health care professionals about Lilly products and disease states. They also help educate patients about how to use our medicines. The role these individuals play is an important aspect of our business—one that is a critical part of Lilly’s mission to improve individual patient outcomes.
While we had already announced our intent to voluntarily disclose physician payments beginning in the middle of 2009, we also are now obligated to do so as part of a Corporate Integrity Agreement we entered into with the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in February 2009.
In 2004, Lilly became the first company to voluntarily make public our U.S. clinical trials and our clinical trials data. And in 2007, Lilly added another first by publicly reporting all of our educational grants and charitable contributions in the U.S.
