Christopher Robben, MD
Internal Medicine · Houston, TXNPI 1669458337
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 161 payments — averaging $17.79 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novo Nordisk$510
- Pfizer$383
- Amgen$213
- Lilly USA, LLC$187
- Exact Sciences$147
- AstraZeneca$139
- plus $1K from 26 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$2,864100%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
General payments by program year
Who reported the general payments
Companies are grouped under their corporate parent — a single manufacturer often files under several CMS reporting entities. Research and ownership payments are counted separately and are not in this table.
| Company | Payments | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Novo Nordisk | 28 | $510 |
| Pfizer | 22 | $383 |
| Amgen | 13 | $213 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 12 | $187 |
| Exact Sciences | 8 | $147 |
| AstraZeneca | 10 | $139 |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 5 | $96 |
| Abbott | 4 | $93 |
| Viiv Healthcare Company | 4 | $90 |
| AbbVie | 4 | $87 |
| Dynavax Technologies Corporation | 2 | $80 |
| GSK | 4 | $77 |
| Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. | 4 | $76 |
| Madrigal Pharmaceuticals | 3 | $70 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 5 | $66 |
| Sanofi Pasteur Inc. | 3 | $63 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 3 | $57 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $54 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 3 | $49 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 3 | $46 |
| Bayer | 3 | $44 |
| Vivus LLC | 2 | $36 |
| Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $33 |
| IBSA Pharma Inc. | 2 | $27 |
| Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Merck | 1 | $17 |
| Evoke Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Gilead | 1 | $16 |
| Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $14 |
| Pulmonx Corporation | 1 | $13 |
How this compares
$2,864 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 7,675 internal medicine providers in Texas.
Medicare billing
What this is not: this is the amount Original Medicare Part B allowed for services this provider billed in 2024. It is not their income. It excludes Medicare Advantage — now more than half of all Medicare enrollment — along with Medicaid and all commercial insurance, and it is gross practice revenue before staff, rent, supplies and malpractice premiums. CMS also suppresses any figure covering ten or fewer patients, so low-volume providers appear smaller than they are.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| JardianceEmpagliflozin | 113 | $161,066 |
| EliquisApixaban | 88 | $89,878 |
| TrulicityDulaglutide | 39 | $63,604 |
| OzempicSemaglutide | 40 | $63,544 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 34 | $56,676 |
| Repatha SureclickEvolocumab | 20 | $25,624 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 18 | $19,197 |
| JanuviaSitagliptin Phosphate | 20 | $17,559 |
| Ezetimibe | 590 | $16,536 |
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 18 | $15,341 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 15 | $13,412 |
| AbrysvoRsv Vacc, Pref A And Pref B/Pf | 29 | $9,161 |
| MyrbetriqMirabegron | 14 | $8,879 |
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 519 | $7,396 |
| Esomeprazole Magnesium | 116 | $5,166 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| Lilly USA, LLCTrulicity, Mounjaro | $187 | $120,28173 claims |
| PfizerEliquis, Abrysvo, Paxlovid | $383 | $101,896134 claims |
| Novo NordiskOzempic | $510 | $63,54440 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $54 | $19,19718 claims |
| MerckJanuvia | $17 | $17,55920 claims |
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta | $77 | $15,34118 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga | $139 | $13,41215 claims |
| Astellas Pharma US IncMyrbetriq | $57 | $8,87914 claims |
| AbbVieSynthroid | $87 | $2,28932 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 80th percentile of 7,675 internal medicine providers in Texas.
Other internal medicine in Houston
- Jan BurgerHouston$47.3M
- Nitin JainHouston$33.2M
- Aung NaingHouston$30.6M
- Preetesh JainHouston$19.5M
- Paolo StratiHouston$19.2M
- Nicholas ShortHouston$17.6M
- Isabella GlitzaHouston$14.8M
- Murtaza MussajiHouston$13.1M
- Hussein TawbiHouston$12.6M
- Hans LeeHouston$11.7M
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Billing: Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, data year 2024. Original Medicare Part B only.
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.