June 30, 2016

expert reaction to publishing of abpi disclosure database of payments made by pharmaceutical companies to healthcare professionals

The ABPI published a disclosure database of  payments made by pharmaceutical companies to healthcare professionals.

Prof Sir Robert Lechler, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said:

“Successful partnerships between industry, academia and the healthcare sector can speed up the rate of scientific discovery and innovation and they are key to accelerating the translation of research into benefits for society. However, many people are concerned about how these partnerships might compromise the integrity of research.

“That is why it is of the utmost importance that the nature of these collaborations and their impact on research are communicated to the public in a clear and transparent way.

“Disclosure UK is a welcome step towards creating the level of transparency and accountability that the public need to assess the trustworthiness of these partnerships.”

Prof Alan Boyd, President of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, said:

“I believe this is a good initiative and should be encouraged. It is vital that the companies that are researching and developing new medicines do work closely with the doctors that will eventually prescribe these medicines for advice and take account of their experience and expertise. It is only right that these doctors are compensated for the time they give in doing this, as this is normally done outside of their normal working hours.  However, I think that all the information should be made public and all doctors should declare whether or not they have received any payments from pharmaceutical companies on an annual basis.”

Declared interests

Prof Sir Robert Lechler:  Robert Lechler is Vice-Principal (Health) and Executive Director of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre our recently accredited Academic Health Science Centre. Robert also heads a leadership giving fund, the Medical Circle, which enables alumni and friends of the College to support the School of Medicine across all the hospital sites at Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’. He has had European Union Funding for part of his research programme for the last 12 years. This has included FP5, FP6 and FP7 consortia funding.

Prof Alan Boyd: Alan is Director of Boyd Consultants which helps Universities and small companies develop their research ideas into medicines for use in patients. He also advises academics and pharma companies who have received funding from the MRC, Wellcome, CRUK. He is President of FPM, and Honorary Professor, University of Birmingham, Medical School and holds membership to GMC, MDU, BMA, RSM, BrAPP, FPM.