Allergan Inc. paid $24.2 million to doctors and hospitals during the last five months of 2013 to cover consulting and speaking fees, grants, meals and travel expenses, according to a new federal database unveiled late last month by the federal government.

That was the second-largest amount paid to medical providers by drug and medical device manufacturers in California. Top honors went to South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc., whose $134.4 million accounted for more than half the $258.2 million statewide total.

Among other Orange County biotech companies, Questcor Pharmaceuticals – recently acquired by Dublin, Ireland-based Mallinckrodt – paid $3.6 million, Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. paid $2.4 million, Biolase Inc. paid $963,807 and Masimo Corp. paid $963,290.

Under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, a little-known provision of the Affordable Care Act, drug and device companies are required to report payments they make to physicians and hospitals, and the federal government is required to make that information public.

Advocates of publishing the data say it can uncover hidden ties between medical providers and the health care industry that often result in biased uses of medical equipment and brand favoritism in drug prescriptions.

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