Towards greater transparency in the life sciences

After the recent publication of guidance on collaboration between healthcare professionals and the drug industry,1 the BMJ printed two letters of criticism to which we would like to respond.2 3 This guidance is just the first step in a series of work by the Ethical Standards in Health and Life Sciences Group (ESHLSG) to tackle problems in the relationship between industry and healthcare professionals. Over the coming months, the life sciences sector and wider healthcare community will be developing several initiatives regarding industry’s support of medical education, clinical trial transparency, and the declaration of payments to healthcare professionals.

It is unfortunate that readers have misinterpreted the guidance. It does not aim to answer every question and reject every concern: we understand that the industry’s support of medical education is contentious, and we are working together to remedy this, just as we are looking at concerns about transparency of clinical trial data. This document is one stage in the process of improving transparency across the life sciences sector—it may not be the definitive step, but it is an important one.

The ESHLSG aims to ensure that relationships between health professionals and the industry are open, transparent, and aligned to patient benefit. Transparency, better understanding, and the sharing of expertise between the professions and industry can only help improve clinical care and the education of all involved, especially as collaborative working becomes an increasingly important way for the NHS to tackle key health challenges in a constrained budgetary environment.

Both the NHS and drug industry want to improve patient care and clinical outcomes through high quality cost effective treatment; by pooling our expertise and resources we can tackle disease more effectively. Surely that is a positive thing?