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Evaluating the transparency of pharmaceutical company disclosure of payments to patient organisations in the UK

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  • Rickard, Emily
  • Ozieranski, Piotr
  • Mulinari, Shai

Abstract

Patient organisations contribute to many areas of pharmaceutical policy. In developing their organisational capacity, many turn to financial support from pharmaceutical companies, which may create conflicts of interests. However, the transparency of the industry’s self-regulatory approach to the disclosure of payments to patient organisations has evaded scrutiny. Using company reports disclosing payments to UK patient organisations in 2012–2016, we evaluate the transparency of reporting using indicators derived from industry’s European patient organisation Code. We found a large proportion of companies did not have any disclosure reports available despite many having made payments, confirmed by comparing with annual financial accounts of patient organisations registered as charities. Where disclosure reports were available, many payments were not adequately described, resulting in large portions of money being disclosed without clarity as to the payment type and purpose. We found companies were clearer regarding whether payments were financial or benefits-in-kind, but transparency was particularly inadequate as to whether it could be determined if payments were indirect or direct and restricted or unrestricted, and almost no companies mentioned the VAT status of payments. Our findings suggest that the industry’s self-regulatory approach to transparency has not been working efficiently. We suggest ways for standardising and increasing the precision of information by pharmaceutical companies and advocate for the introduction of a centralised, and easily accessible national-level payment database.

Suggested Citation

  • Rickard, Emily & Ozieranski, Piotr & Mulinari, Shai, 2019. "Evaluating the transparency of pharmaceutical company disclosure of payments to patient organisations in the UK," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(12), pages 1244-1250.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:123:y:2019:i:12:p:1244-1250
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.08.007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hemminki, Elina & Toiviainen, Hanna K. & Vuorenkoski, Lauri, 2010. "Co-operation between patient organisations and the drug industry in Finland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1171-1175, April.
    2. Cinzia Colombo & Paola Mosconi & Walter Villani & Silvio Garattini, 2012. "Patient Organizations’ Funding from Pharmaceutical Companies: Is Disclosure Clear, Complete and Accessible to the Public? An Italian Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-8, May.
    3. Grundy, Quinn & Habibi, Roojin & Shnier, Adrienne & Mayes, Christopher & Lipworth, Wendy, 2018. "Decoding disclosure: Comparing conflict of interest policy among the United States, France, and Australia," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(5), pages 509-518.
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    Cited by:

    1. Eszter Saghy & Shai Mulinari & Piotr Ozieranski, 2021. "Drug company payments to General Practices in England: Cross-sectional and social network analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Moriarty, Frank & Larkin, James & Fahey, Tom, 2021. "Payments reported by the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland from 2015 to 2019: An observational study," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(10), pages 1297-1304.
    3. Eisenkraft Klein, Daniel, 2023. "Profit and Prudence: Navigating Psychedelic Commercialization Through Lessons from the Prescription Opioid Crisis," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

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