Industry donated over £57m to UK patient organisations from 2012 to 2016

Drug companies donated over £57m (€65m; $72m) to UK patient organisations from 2012 to 2016, prioritising a small number of organisations that support commercially high profile conditions such as cancer, an analysis published by The BMJ has found.1

The researchers called for greater transparency to ensure that industry funding is not “unduly influenced” by commercial objectives.

The study team from the University of Bath, UK, and Lund University in Sweden examined disclosures of payments (a requirement since 2012) made to patient organisations from corporate members of the European and UK pharmaceutical industry association. The industry disclosed 4572 payments, worth £57.3m, to 508 UK patient organisations from 2012 to 2016, the analysis found.

This represented a modest proportion of the overall funding for healthcare professionals and organisations, which reached £340.3m …