Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, will make public its payments to U.S. doctors for consulting, speeches and research amid criticism from Congress over the ties between the medical profession and drug companies.

The payments to practicing physicians and other health-care providers, as well as to scientists, academic institutions and research centers, will appear on Pfizer’s Web site, the New York- based company said today in a statement.

The announcement follows last month’s introduction of a bill in the U.S. Senate that would create a national registry of medical industry payments to physicians. Lawmakers have criticized conflicts of interest between doctors performing research and prescribing medicines and the drug companies that pay them. Starting early in 2010, Pfizer will report payments exceeding $500 a year, including meals worth more than $25.

“The public has a right to know what those relationships are,” said Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and co- sponsor of the legislation, in an e-mailed statement today. “Every step in the direction of disclosure is a step in the right direction and helps to build the case for passage of legislation to establish nationwide reporting of this kind of information.”

Lilly’s Disclosure

Eli Lilly & Co. said in September that it would start publicizing payments to doctors for gifts, speeches and other services in 2009. Pfizer said last year that to avoid potential conflicts it would stop funding for-profit programs that offer continuing medical education courses and the company would disclose payments to doctors’ organizations.

Grassley and Senator Herb Kohl, a Democrat from Wisconsin, proposed the Physician Payments Sunshine Act to create a national registry of medical industry payments to physicians. The proposal would require drug companies to report payments greater than $100 a year to the government and to post them online. Penalties as high as $1 million could be imposed for knowingly failing to report the information.

Nine in 10 U.S. physicians accept gifts such as lunch or free samples from drug and device makers, with heart doctors twice as likely as others to get cash payments, said researchers who surveyed 1,662 physicians in six specialties in an April 2007 New England Journal of Medicine article.

More than one-third were reimbursed for expenses from attending medical meetings or continuing education classes, and 28 percent received payments for consulting, speaking about specific medications or serving on an advisory board, the researchers found.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 9, 2009 18:37 EST