Many health consumer groups fail to disclose industry sponsorship

University of Sydney experts call for greater transparency and independence by Australian health consumer groups, as new research reveals clouded disclosures about financial support and corporate sponsorship arrangements. Representing the interests of health consumers such as patients, their family and carers, health consumer organisations play an influential role in health care policy. Being non-profit, they tend to rely on external sources of financing - including from the pharmaceutical industry. Recent studies from the US and Europe have demonstrated industry funding of health consumer organisations is common, but disclosure remains incomplete - and there are rising concerns around potential conflicts of interest and influence on consumer groups' activities and positions. New research led by the University of Sydney reveals a similar situation in Australia, with inadequate financial transparency among industry-funded consumer organisations and only rare instances of policies that govern corporate sponsorshi Published in Australian Health Review today, the research is a collaboration between the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre and School of Pharmacy , part of the Evidence, policy and influence collaborative. The research team identified 230 health consumer organisations that received pharmaceutical industry support from 2013 to 2016, using reports published by industry trade association Medicines Australia. Since 2013, Medicines Australia has published annual reports from member pharmaceutical companies with the monetary or in-kind value of sponsorship included.