Government consults on legislation to disclose industry payments to doctors

The UK government is looking to introduce legislation to force manufacturers and commercial suppliers of drugs, devices, and borderline substances to report details of the payments and other benefits they provide to healthcare professionals and organisations.

A public consultation on the draft plan, which aims to increase transparency on the relations between industry and the healthcare sector and reduce potential conflicts of interest, has been launched by the Department of Health and Social Care.1

The move is a response to Julia Cumberlege’s independent review, which called for manufacturers to be required to publish any financial payments and benefits in kind they make to healthcare professionals and providers.2

Cumberlege told The BMJ, “It is more than three years since our report, First Do No Harm, was published. I warmly welcome the consultation, and I very much hope there will be a statutory requirement to disclose such payments and …