ONE of Australia's biggest drug companies will reveal next month how much money it pays to doctors, health groups and research institutes in grants and fees -- a first step that could eventually allow patients to tally payments to their own doctors.
The move is intended to improve transparency in the medicines industry, which turned over more than $21.5 billion in 2008-09 amid increasing claims of hidden conflicts of interest.
GlaxoSmithKline will initially limit the move to declaring how much money the firm pays to Australian health professionals overall in each of three categories: consultancies, sponsorships and grants. But it is understood full individual identification of payments remains GSK's long-term goal.
Drug giants in the US have been required to publish details of payments to individual named doctors since the signing into law of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act last year.
Doctors in Australia are generally wary of full disclosure, often citing concerns that merely the acceptance of a meal while attending an after-hours educational function could be interpreted negatively.
GSK Australia general manager Deborah Waterhouse said the latest move was "a global decision" by the company, and GSK was "very committed to enhancing the transparency of how we manage our business".
"This is the first step on what's likely to be a journey in coming months and years," she said.
"Whether we go to the level of individual physician data being published on our website, we need to consult . . . and understand what is possible from a privacy standpoint."
As interim steps, GSK might extend its disclosures to payments to individual researchers involved in clinical trials funded by the company.
Ethics experts welcomed the announcement, but said the aggregate data GSK would publish from next month would be of little value compared with detailed individual information.
Ray Moynihan, a journalist, author and lecturer who has investigated behind-the-scenes drug company influences for more than a decade, said Ms Waterhouse's "stated willingness . . . to make the individual doctor-level data available is extremely significant".
"It's only a matter of time before the public will be able to do an internet search on their health professionals to see how many dinners they have recently attended or what sort of consultants' fees they obtained."
Australian Medical Association vice-president Steve Hambleton said privacy concerns would have to be carefully addressed.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Drug giant to reveal payments to doctors | The Australian
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