Industry research support reached 488 US psychiatrists, under 1 percent, in eight years: $98 million, concentrated
Of 57,365 US psychiatrists in 2015 to 2022, 488 (0.85 percent) were principal investigators on industry research support: $98,189,901 in total, median $21,749 a year, concentrated in a few companies and institutions.
We have not finished checking this source. No judgement either way. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: Open Payments attributes research payments to a named principal investigator; money paid to institutions without a named physician is not captured. Funding for the study is not stated in the abstract.
Significant findings
The same group that measured general payments turned to research payments: the money drug and device companies pay psychiatrists to run studies, reported to Open Payments per principal investigator.
Verbatim from the abstract: of 57,365 psychiatrists identified in the 2015 to 2022 records, "488 (0.85%) were principal investigators who received industry research support totaling $98,189,901; the median annual payment amount was $21,749", and payments were highly concentrated among a few companies and psychiatrists from a few institutions.
Worth asking
Research support is the money that funds the trials this library is built on. Fewer than one psychiatrist in a hundred receives any, and it flows to a small number of institutions, which is one reason the same names recur on industry-funded trials of psychiatric drugs. The figure is reported per investigator, so it understates what institutions receive.
Source
Research Support for U.S. Psychiatrists From Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies, 2015–2022 — Havlik JL, Wahid S, Hidalgo K, Isaac S (2026)
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.20250210
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.20250210
How this was scored
- Study design
- not recorded
- Funding
- not recorded
- Published in
- not recorded
- Sample size
- 57,365
- Preregistered
- not recorded
- Conflicts disclosed
- not recorded
- Independent of proponent
- not recorded
- Retracted
- No
We have not finished checking this source, so there is no scoring to show yet. “We have not checked this yet” and “this is disputed” are different statements, so no scored band is shown rather than a low one.
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published September 21, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
veisund rates this source "not yet assessed". We have not finished checking this source. No judgement either way. One caveat travels with that badge: Open Payments attributes research payments to a named principal investigator; money paid to institutions without a named physician is not captured. Funding for the study is not stated in the abstract. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Research Support for U.S. Psychiatrists From Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies, 2015–2022 — Havlik JL, Wahid S, Hidalgo K, Isaac S (2026). DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.20250210. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.