Health Advocacy Groups Quietly Accepting Pharma Cash
posted Mon, 17 Jan 2011We recently learned about the exorbitant amount of money Big Pharma spent on lobbying to influence health care reform. Just this past week, a new study in the American Journal of Public Health exposed the fact that pharmaceutical companies are also quietly doling out money to health advocacy organizations.
Groups like the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund received substantial grants from pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, for example, but didn’t publicly acknowledge that fact.
We don’t believe that it’s inherently wrong for health advocacy groups to accept funding from pharmaceutical companies. But we do support greater financial transparency. Many of these groups are well respected and powerful. They have the ability to influence health policy. They might even advocate for specific types of treatment. The public has a right to know whether or not these groups might fall under the influence of a particular drug company.
Melissa Maki, RxRights
Read more about this issue:
Health lobby groups mum on drug company grants
Study: Drug firms fund health advocacy groups
Most Health-Advocacy Groups Don’t Disclose Drug Maker’s Grants