David Leiman
Pain Medicine · Houston, TXNPI 1184925703
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $78,755 of the $130,831 with a category attached, or 60.2%. 15 manufacturers reported payments, led by Acacia Pharma Inc at 35.0% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $40,882 and has fallen 99.5% since, to $196 in 2025. Among pain medicine clinicians in TX with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 161 payments — averaging $812.61 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Acacia Pharma Inc$46K
- Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$27K
- Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated$26K
- Acelrx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$15K
- Heron Therapeutics, Inc.$15K
- Baudax Bio Inc.$1K
- plus $2K from 9 others
Across 56 payments — averaging $2965.22 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Heron Therapeutics, Inc.$93K
- Merck$56K
- Novo Nordisk AS$10K
- Eli Lilly$7K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$24,60019%
- Speaking & faculty fees$78,75560%
- Travel & lodging$22,25917%
- Food & beverage$5,2174%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Acacia Pharma Inc | 47 | $45,822 |
| Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 24 | $27,247 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 35 | $25,673 |
| Acelrx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 25 | $14,843 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 16 | $14,628 |
| Baudax Bio Inc. | 1 | $1,105 |
| Grifols Therapeutics LLC | 4 | $904 |
| Stryker | 1 | $169 |
| Vertex | 2 | $156 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $133 |
| Medacta USA, Inc. | 1 | $76 |
| Merck | 1 | $27 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Vertical Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $17 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 1 | $8 |
What the payments were tied to
Products named in the reported payments. Only payments of $100 or more are attributed here — the typical reported payment nationally is a meal worth about $16, and listing those product-by-product would be noise.
How this compares
$130,831 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 583 pain medicine providers in Texas.
Other pain medicine in Houston
- Grant ChenHouston$175K
- Gunjan PatelHouston$166K
- Jaideep MehtaHouston$134K
- Daniel PakHouston$117K
- Mitchell EngleHouston$72K
- Mayur KanjiaHouston$46K
- Baominh VinhHouston$44K
- Matthew ChungHouston$26K
- Thuan DaoHouston$23K
- Melissa MurphyGrapevine$653K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.