Drug firms paid UK doctors £40 million for travel and expenses: Pharma industry body

A trade body representing pharmaceutical companies said, drug companies were paying an estimated £40 million a year to British doctors in service fees, flights, hotel and other travel expenses.

According to The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) most of the 44 biggest companies had now revealed how much they paid doctors to help market their drugs. The ABPI added, its aggregated total of £40 million was based on 35 suppliers who had shared precise information with the body and estimates for the rest.

GlaxoSmithKline, the largest British group, spent £1.9 million on "fees for advice and consultancy" on 1,517 UK-based doctors, an average of £1,252 each in addition to sponsoring 1,022 doctors and other healthcare professionals to attend scientific conferences and meetings, at a total cost of £887,294 - an average of £868 per trip.

Though doctors have always denied that taking drug company money influenced their judgment in any way about a medicine, suspicions have lingered.

Doctors sometimes ask for sponsorship to attend international meetings, which they claim are necessary to keep up with the latest developments in their field. They say, their hospitals were in no position to be able to pay their flight and hotel bills.

According to Andrew Powrie-Smith, director of the ABPI, he did not think having to publish what the pharmaceutical industry spent on doctors would make companies less generous.

He added, industry in the UK was proud of its collaboration with health professionals. He added, a fifth of the top 100 medicines in the UK had come from this collaboration, but there was an increasing demand for transparency in the relationship.

He said he did not see that it would have a particularly negative impact over the companies' willingness to support medical education.

In 2010, the ABPI agreed that all companies would publish their total payments to healthcare professionals.

Both private staff as well as NHS were paid the sum for consultancies, sponsorships and other dealings with drug businesses in 2012. According to the ABPI it released the figures as part of its ''on-going transparency drive''.

According to a spokesman, the money was paid to medics for attending medical education events, support such as training and development, as also fees for services such as speaking engagements to share good clinical practice and participation in advisory boards.

Leading figures from the medical profession as also pharmaceutical industries were examining whether doctors paid by drug companies should declare their dealings on a public register.

According to the Ethical Standards in Health and Life Sciences Group, disclosure of payments would be a ''significant step'' towards greater transparency.