Canadians need to know how much money Big Pharma gives health care providers

Drug companies often give payments to physicians, other health care workers and health care organizations for things like consulting fees, sitting on advisory boards, speaking at sponsored events or funding research, as well as meals and travel expenses, says Dr. Joel Lexchin, Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Management, York University, Canada.

However, in Canada, it’s difficult to know how much was paid to whom.

Joel Lexchin, a board member of the Canadian Health Coalition, says Innovative Medicines Canada has developed a Voluntary Framework on Disclosure of Payments made to health care professionals and organizations, but fewer than one-quarter of lobby group’s member companies have been reporting how much in total they gave to doctors and organizations.

“In order to maintain faith in the integrity of treatments that doctors and other health care providers and organizations offer their patients, it’s vital that the public knows that the choice of therapy is based on the patient’s best interest and not on the interest of the company that makes the drug,” wrote Lexchin in The Conversation earlier this month.

Nearly a half-billion dollars in payments has been disclosed

Over seven years (2016-2022), the 10 disclosing companies gave over $236 million to doctors and almost $213 million to organizations.

Which doctors and organizations have received these payments, what have they done to earn the money? We don’t know, because the disclosures don’t name names or give the specific purpose of the payments. And since names are withheld, the amounts given to individual doctors or organizations are also not available, says Lexchin.

“Canadians need to know what Big Pharma is paying to whom, since these payments may not be to the benefit of patients,” he concludes.

Read more from “Canadians need to know how much money Big Pharma gives health-care providers, but this information is far too difficult to find,” by Joel Lexchin, published on March 6, 2024 by The Conversation.