Australian regulator insists on greater transparency of industry payments to doctors

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has called for stricter transparency provisions in Medicines Australia’s new code of conduct that would prevent drug companies from making payments to doctors without prior consent to disclose them in full. Medicines Australia represents the country’s drug industry.

The commission granted conditional approval for the new code, which will govern Australia’s self regulating drug sector for the next five years, on 17 October. But it ruled that Medicines Australia had not gone far enough in its reporting framework for sponsorship, speaking, or other fees paid to doctors.

Medicines Australia had proposed disclosure of payments only when the doctor in question consented to the information being made public. …