Drug companies to declare all payments made to doctors from 2012

Doctors have welcomed changes to the drug industry’s code of practice, which

requires companies to make an annual declaration of how much money they have paid to doctors for use of their services.

The ruling is part of several amendments to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) code of practice.

The changes will see each drug company declare the amount and the number of times payments were made to doctors, including speaker fees, advisory boards and consultancy and sponsorship for attendance at meetings.

The first declaration will be made in 2013 for payments made in 2012. The code, however, does not require individual doctors to be named, …