PHP4 - Mapping Transactions from Pharmaceutical Companies to Healthcare Organisations in the EU5

Abstract

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations Disclosure Code, agreed in June 2013, requires public disclosure of certain payments to individual healthcare professional and healthcare organisations. This study mapped the payments disclosed by the top five pharmaceutical companies in the EU5 countries during the year 2015 according to therapy area and recipient organisation. The top five pharmaceutical companies by global revenue were identified and information on transactions they made to patient- and non-patient groups during 2015 was extracted from their EU or country-specific websites between May 2016 and June 2016. All transactions were converted into GBP using the exchange rates 1 GBP=0.79 EUR, 1 GBP=0.71 CHF and 1 GBP=0.69 USD. Recipient organisations were categorised by therapy area of focus using the British National Formulary structure. A total of 1934 transactions, amounting to £11,468,571, were disclosed for the year 2015. The transactions were made to 913 different organisations, with the top five organisations receiving 17% of the total amount transferred and the top 10 organisations receiving 24% of the total amount transferred. Organisations focussing on malignant disease & immunosuppression received the highest amount of funding (£5,066,068; 44% of total), followed by organisations focussing on endocrine system (£971,386; 8% of total) and central nervous system (£906,714, 8% of total) diseases. The top five pharmaceutical companies made a large number of individual transactions to healthcare organisations in the EU5 in 2015. However, almost half of the funds transferred were for one therapy area and one-quarter of funds were transferred to only ten individual organisations. Hence, despite the high number of transactions made, funding favoured a limited number of recipients and therapy areas.