Disclosing drug companies payments should be compulsory, say top earners
The doctors who declared the most earnings from drug companies in the United Kingdom’s new database have said that being transparent about payments should be mandatory. The database showed that 70% of healthcare professionals who received payments from drug companies agreed to have the information disclosed on Disclosure UK (www.disclosureuk.org.uk), which is hosted by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. But the 30% who didn’t agree to disclosure received more than half (52%) of the payments registered.1 From the data posted it is possible to find the top earners, but because of the way that the undeclared data are presented it is not possible to tell how they rank overall. Ian Pavord, …