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Pharmas’ payments to doctors raise concerns about prescription bias and have triggered bribery investigations, too. So, to win patients’ trust, transparency matters. And now, AstraZeneca is going beyond its Big Pharma fellows to disclose all its doc payments, even in regions where it’s not required. CEO Pascal Soriot told investors at its annual meeting that his company plans to disclose payments in all countries where it has commercial activities, according to The Times. Several countries, including the U.S., require those disclosures under local regulations. “There was no reason for us not to disclose,” said Soriot, as quoted by The Times of London. “It’s only a …

Une proposition de loi pour plus de transparence et moins de collusions d’intérêts entre l’industrie pharmaceutique et les professionnels du secteur est portée par le groupe PJD à la Chambre des représentants. Elle prévoit des plafonds pour les cadeaux et des sanctions à la clé. “Il y a des dérapages dans les relations entre d’un côté certains laboratoires pharmaceutiques, fabricants de produits esthétiques et de dispositifs médicaux, et de l’autre, certains professionnels de santé, associations de malades et médias”, assène Mustapha Brahimi, député PJD, membre de la commission des secteurs sociaux à la Chambre des représentants. Si le phénomène est …

Right now, Canadian patient-advocacy groups can disclose as much or as little as they like about the donations they receive from drug or device makers. Some make detailed disclosures on their websites; most do little more than putting the names or logos of their industry sponsors online. In draft regulations posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2018, the Ontario government laid out how the health-sector transparency law it passed last year will work, including listing the 31 categories of funding recipients who will be covered by the new disclosure system, the first of its kind in Canada. These changes will allow anyone …

The Ontario Government introduced a bill on September 27 to enact legislation aimed at strengthening transparency in Ontario’s health care sector. The Health Sector Payment Transparency Act, 2017 (HSPTA), would require the drug and health product manufacturers to disclose payments made to health care professionals, organizations and other recipients. If passed, Ontario would be the first Canadian province or territory to mandate disclosure of private sector payments to health professionals. The proposed HSPTA is not yet law and it is unknown whether a review committee will hold public hearings in the future to consider amendments to the draft legislation. To …

SEOUL, June 27 – The South Korean government is introducing new legislation in its fight against corruption, including regulations that will require pharmaceutical companies to divulge payments made to doctors and pharmacists starting next year. Under the new health care reform, pharmaceutical companies that offer financial compensation to medical staff are required to keep records of all the transactions, which must be presented at the request of the minister of Health and Welfare (MOHW), the ministry announced on Monday. Often called in the industry as the ‘K-Sunshine Act’ given its similar nature to the Physician Payments Sunshine Act in the U.S., …

Two groups of doctors and the Ontario Medical Association are headed to court Monday to argue that OHIP payments to top-billing physicians are “personal information” and should not be public. The information and privacy commissioner last year ordered the public disclosure of the top billers’ identities, along with amounts each receives in payments from the taxpayer-funded insurance plan. The information is business-related, not personal, and should be public because of the importance of transparency of government expenditures, the ruling said. A judicial review of that decision is being sought by the OMA and two groups of doctors — known in …