Pharmalot: WSJBy Ed SilvermanJul 27, 2015
U.K. doctors and public health officials may be required to report any financial ties to drug makers under plans that are being considered by U.K. government officials, The Telegraph reports. The move comes after the paper ran an undercover investigation showing how National Health Service staffers were allegedly paid by drug makers that lobby health care providers to use specific medicines.
Some staff, who say they worked as industry consultants, charged more than $23,000 to organize so-called ‘advisory board’ meetings for drug makers and many of the meetings took place in five-star hotels in other countries, according to the paper. Some attendees told the Telegraph they were taken to “flashy” restaurants and paid large sums while considering whether to “switch” drugs.
NHS staffers who participated in the advisory boards argue their involvement helps them make “best use” of government money by analyzing drugs and providing expert advice, the paper wrote. Meanwhile, a dozen NHS staffers who attended one meeting in Germany told the paper they reported the trip and payments from a drug maker to their employers, and were not involved in subsequent decisions to adopt the drugs that were discussed. Each was paid nearly $800 a day.
An NHS England spokesman tells the paper “these are extremely serious allegations so we have immediately directed NHS Protect [an investigative agency] to launch a full investigation of each and every case identified by this press report.” He adds the U.K. may want to pass a law requiring “full disclosure of any payments” made by companies to health professionals or NHS employees…
NHS staffers who participated in the advisory boards argue their involvement helps them make “best use” of government money by analyzing drugs and providing expert advice…
Last night MPs on the Commons health select committee called on the NHS to investigate whether the practice was “widespread”. NHS England and Mr Hunt are looking at the merits of introducing a so-called Sunshine Act, akin to US legislation introduced in 2010 to shed light on financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and health professionals.
An NHS England spokesman said: “These are extremely serious allegations so we have immediately directed NHS Protect to launch a full investigation of each and every case identified by this press report. “These allegations also raise the question of whether this country should now legislate for a so-called Sunshine Act, requiring full disclosure of any payments made by a pharmaceutical or device company to a health professional or NHS employee”…
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