Patient organizations and conflict of interest

I read with interest your article on this topic and agree that, collectively, we should all be striving to ensure high levels of transparency in our relationships across the health sector. The relationships pharmaceutical companies have are valuable for the development of medicines and treatments that positively impact patient care. We are proud to share openly how we collaborate to this end.

Indeed, the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry is very clear on how pharmaceutical companies are expected to carry out their relationships with patient organisations. These expectations are in place to ensure the independence of patient organisations, facilitate legitimate collaboration and ensure transparency of financial and other support.

I would like to point out that Disclosure UK is not and has never been the main mechanism through which companies are required disclose payments to patient organisations. Disclosure UK is a publicly searchable database showing certain payments and benefits in kind made by the pharmaceutical companies to healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations.

Companies are required to disclose support and payments to patient organisations together with a description of that support annually via their own websites.