The doc disclosure movement is hopping across the pond. Now that much of Big Pharma in the U.S. is on the disclosure bandwagon, readying databases of payments and other gifts to doctors, drugmakers in the U.K. and Europe "at least have to consider" publicizing those payments to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest, Pharmafocus reports.
David Gillen, Pfizer's medical director in the U.K., told Pharmafocus that the relationship between drugmakers and doctors has to be "reconstructed." Gillen and other reps from U.K. pharma and Royal College of Physicians members have been hammering out a report on how to create the ideal relationship between doctors and industry. That report is set to appear in the medical journal The Lancet next month.
Gillen says he thinks the project's findings could, if adopted, completely overhaul the rep of Big Pharma. "[I]t can start here, and we can maybe change the industry's reputation around the world," he said.
- read the Pharmafocus article