Survey finds support for payments to doctors from commercial companies to be made public

Almost 80% of doctors, drug industry workers, and their representative organisations believe that payments to doctors by commercial organisations should be disclosed on a single, publicly searchable database, shows research published this week by the Ethical Standards in Health and Life Sciences Group (ESHLSG).

The survey, including responses from healthcare organisations, private companies, NHS and private doctors, academics, and drug industry staff, found that 89% of 1056 respondents agreed that payments to individually named healthcare professionals by companies should be transparent, and 79% agreed that payments should be disclosed on a central, publicly searchable database.1

The consultation is important, because the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, the …