Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14440

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Charities not in the pocket of pharma
PM Live 2008 Oct 1
http://www.pmlive.com/pharm_market/earlier_news.cfm?showArticle=1&ArticleID=7088

Full text:

Patient groups and healthcare charities whose existence and good work relies on donations from individuals and organisations have denied that they are in any way obliged to fight the pharmaceutical industry’s corner in return for financial support.
An article published in the Independent (October 1, 2008) suggests several patient groups have been ‘spearheading attacks’, on behalf of pharma, against controversial decisions made by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on cost-effectiveness.

Beating Bowel Cancer and the Alzheimer’s Society, suggested by the Independent as being in the pocket of pharma, denied fervently that they have – or would – ever accept financial donations from a pharma company if it meant lending their name to challenges over drug pricing purely for the sake of their benefactors.

Speaking to PMLiVE.com, Hilary Whittaker, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, defended the relationship between pharma-donors and the charity as wholesome: “No attempt is made on the part of donating companies to influence our policy, direction or action either explicitly or implicitly, and we are proud of our independent position in this regard.

“As a patient centred organisation, we have a responsibility to build positive working relationships with pharmaceutical companies. However, we remain entirely independent as a charity, and believe that through our work we have made a considerable impact on improvements for bowel cancer patients and those affected by the disease.”

The article in the Independent noted that the charity had ‘condemned a NICE decision to turn down the bowel cancer drugs Avastin and Erbitux “as a scandal”… [yet] made no mention of the cost of the treatments’. It also highlighted that Beating Bowel Cancer received 10 per cent of its £1m income from pharmaceutical companies last year.

Whittaker added: “We are disappointed that the Independent has failed to highlight all the valuable work that Beating Bowel Cancer does in supporting and advising patients and their relatives as they navigate their way through a traumatic time in their lives. The vast majority of our income working relationship with the Department of Health, and we actively encourage dialogue between government and industry on drug pricing.”

The Alzheimer’s Society was also mentioned by the newspaper, which appeared to infer a link between a claimed ‘six figure sum’ it received from pharma companies in 2007 and the organisation of one of ‘the biggest campaigns against NICE in recent years’.

A spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Society confirmed: “No financial support was received from pharmaceutical companies to lobby NICE; nor would we ever accept it. Guided only by its membership and the needs of people with dementia and their carers, Alzheimer’s Society has a rigorous approach to the support received from companies, including pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical donations are ‘capped’ at 5 per cent of income as part of our ethical policy which is published on our website.”

The Independent attacked several charities for not having ‘criticised the high prices charged by pharmaceutical companies for their products in their recent campaigns’, including the National Kidney Federation (NKF), the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (Arma), the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, Beating Bowel Cancer, Alzheimer’s Society and the Royal National Institute of the blind (RNIB).