Global

In case you haven’t been following this saga by Marion Nestle, she’s been collecting studies funded by food companies since last March and posting them according to whether the results do or do not favor the sponsor’s interests. The point of this exercise is to demonstrate that sponsored studies are far more likely to favor the interests of the sponsor than are studies funded by government agencies or foundations, and to argue for more independent funding of food and nutrition research (see her recent Viewpoint on this topic in JAMA Internal Medicine). Here are five more examples by Marion Nestle

In early 2015 the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) authorized a new Code of Conduct for Medicines Australia (representing the larger drug companies in Australia but not generic makers). This 18th Code Edition now includes making public all payments to doctors who speak at drug company events, payments for work on company advisory boards, and the monetary equivalent of gifts from companies to doctors for overseas and local travel, accommodation, conference registration fees and other forms of hospitality. This move to greater transparency started back in 2009 and culminated this year with the adoption of many of the elements …

Health workers have accepted more than $300,000 worth of drug company-sponsored travel and gifts, as global concerns grow about the influence of freebies on treatment decisions. While the rest of the world is increasing disclosure of such payments, in New Zealand they have become more opaque. However, Medicines New Zealand plans could see all freebies publicly declared from next year. To read this article by Nikki MacDonald

Several clients have asked me lately what they should start focusing on after transparency reporting, and my answer is that setting up a process for collecting spend information was just the beginning. The next phase should focus on making sure the processes are accurate and efficient, and how to get the maximum value out of the aggregate spend information. In this article I have identified five areas that companies are focusing on after they have their aggregate spend system up and running. 1. Validation of reporting information 2. Automation of spend collection processes 3. Fair Market Value (FMV), Key Opinion …

PharmaCertify : A brief history of transparency reporting, Transparency reporting today, Five pillars to steer you into the future, Q&A