Lester Epstein
Phoenix, AZNPI 1760446769
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 99.9% of the total across 268 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. It is spread thinly across 39 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 21.3% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $2,409 and has fallen 64.8% since, to $848 in 2022.
Across 268 payments — averaging $20.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novo Nordisk$1K
- Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC$1K
- Boehringer Ingelheim$462
- AbbVie$420
- Amgen$315
- Abbott$289
- plus $2K from 33 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$5,480100%
- Education$50%
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 | 36 | $1,170 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 45 | $1,009 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 21 | $462 |
| AbbVie | 20 | $420 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 20 | $315 |
| Abbott | 11 | $289 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 15 | $229 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 16 | $191 |
| GSK | 11 | $153 |
| Merck | 8 | $109 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $105 |
| Pfizer | 7 | $98 |
| Novartis | 7 | $92 |
| Nestle Healthcare Nutrition Inc. | 4 | $81 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 4 | $68 |
| Medtronic(3 entities) | 4 | $63 |
| Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. | 3 | $58 |
| Shire North American Group Inc | 3 | $52 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 3 | $50 |
| Mannkind Corporation | 3 | $45 |
| Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 3 | $45 |
| Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2 | $45 |
| Insulet Corporation | 2 | $42 |
| Lifescan, Inc. | 2 | $42 |
| Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. | 2 | $30 |
| Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC | 2 | $25 |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $16 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Qiagen, LLC | 1 | $15 |
| Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $15 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $14 |
| Aytu Biopharma, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Alfasigma USA, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
| Apria Healthcare LLC | 1 | $12 |
| Lucid Diagnostics Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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.
- Tresiba$468
- Ozempic$125
- FreeStyle Libre 2$123
- PRALUENT$121
- SOLIQUA 100/33$116
- Vascepa$105
- TOUJEO$102
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.