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Under-reported relationship: a comparative study of pharmaceutical industry and patient organisation payment disclosures in the UK (2012-2016)

Ozieranski, Piotr ; Csanadi, Marcell ; Rickard, Emily and Mulinari, Shai LU (2020) In BMJ Open 10(9). p.1-11
Abstract
Objectives To examine the under-reporting of pharmaceutical company payments to patient organisations by donors and recipients. Design Comparative descriptive analysis of payments disclosed on drug company and charity regulator websites. Setting UK. Participants 87 donors (drug companies) and 425 recipients (patient organisations) reporting payments in 2012-2016. Main outcome measures. Number and value of payments reported by donors and recipients; differences in reported payments from/to the same donors and recipients; payments reported in either dataset but not the other one; agreement between donor-recipient ties established by payments; overlap between donor and recipient lists and, respectively, industry and patient organisation data.... (More)
Objectives To examine the under-reporting of pharmaceutical company payments to patient organisations by donors and recipients. Design Comparative descriptive analysis of payments disclosed on drug company and charity regulator websites. Setting UK. Participants 87 donors (drug companies) and 425 recipients (patient organisations) reporting payments in 2012-2016. Main outcome measures. Number and value of payments reported by donors and recipients; differences in reported payments from/to the same donors and recipients; payments reported in either dataset but not the other one; agreement between donor-recipient ties established by payments; overlap between donor and recipient lists and, respectively, industry and patient organisation data. Results. Of 87 donors, 63 (72.4%) reported payments but 84 (96.6%) were mentioned by recipients. Although donors listed 425 recipients, only 200 (47.1%) reported payments. The number and value of payments reported by donors were 259.8% and 163.7% greater than those reported by recipients, respectively. The number of donors with matching payment numbers and values in both datasets were 3.4% and 0.0%, respectively; for recipients these figures were 7.8% and 1.9%. There were 24 and 3 donors missing from industry and patient organisation data during the entire study period, representing 38.1% and 3.6% of those in the respective datasets. The share of donor-recipient ties in which industry and patient organisation data agreed about donors and recipients was 38.9% and 68.4% in each dataset, respectively. Of 63 donors reporting payments, only 3 (4.8%) had their recipient lists fully overlapping with patient organisation data. Of 200 recipients reporting industry funding, 102 (51.0%) had their donor lists fully overlapping with industry data. Conclusions. Both donors and recipients under-reported payments. Existing donor and recipient disclosure systems cannot manage potential conflicts of interest associated with industry payments. Increased standardisation could limit the under-reporting by each side but only an integrated donor-recipient database could eliminate it. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
BMJ Open
volume
10
issue
9
article number
10:e037351
pages
1 - 11
publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85091265458
  • pmid:32950962
ISSN
2044-6055
DOI
10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037351
project
What can be learnt from the new pharmaceutical industry payment disclosures? A network and policy analysis of ties between companies and health professionals and organisations
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f8154d2b-a005-466b-a3b8-b0bf1bf7f1ab
date added to LUP
2020-07-29 14:54:04
date last changed
2023-04-10 17:35:13
@article{f8154d2b-a005-466b-a3b8-b0bf1bf7f1ab,
  abstract     = {{Objectives To examine the under-reporting of pharmaceutical company payments to patient organisations by donors and recipients. Design Comparative descriptive analysis of payments disclosed on drug company and charity regulator websites. Setting UK. Participants 87 donors (drug companies) and 425 recipients (patient organisations) reporting payments in 2012-2016. Main outcome measures. Number and value of payments reported by donors and recipients; differences in reported payments from/to the same donors and recipients; payments reported in either dataset but not the other one; agreement between donor-recipient ties established by payments; overlap between donor and recipient lists and, respectively, industry and patient organisation data. Results. Of 87 donors, 63 (72.4%) reported payments but 84 (96.6%) were mentioned by recipients. Although donors listed 425 recipients, only 200 (47.1%) reported payments. The number and value of payments reported by donors were 259.8% and 163.7% greater than those reported by recipients, respectively. The number of donors with matching payment numbers and values in both datasets were 3.4% and 0.0%, respectively; for recipients these figures were 7.8% and 1.9%. There were 24 and 3 donors missing from industry and patient organisation data during the entire study period, representing 38.1% and 3.6% of those in the respective datasets. The share of donor-recipient ties in which industry and patient organisation data agreed about donors and recipients was 38.9% and 68.4% in each dataset, respectively. Of 63 donors reporting payments, only 3 (4.8%) had their recipient lists fully overlapping with patient organisation data. Of 200 recipients reporting industry funding, 102 (51.0%) had their donor lists fully overlapping with industry data. Conclusions. Both donors and recipients under-reported payments. Existing donor and recipient disclosure systems cannot manage potential conflicts of interest associated with industry payments. Increased standardisation could limit the under-reporting by each side but only an integrated donor-recipient database could eliminate it.}},
  author       = {{Ozieranski, Piotr and Csanadi, Marcell and Rickard, Emily and Mulinari, Shai}},
  issn         = {{2044-6055}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{1--11}},
  publisher    = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{BMJ Open}},
  title        = {{Under-reported relationship: a comparative study of pharmaceutical industry and patient organisation payment disclosures in the UK (2012-2016)}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037351}},
  doi          = {{10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037351}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}