Drug company payments to healthcare professionals widespread in Ireland

The practice of drug company payments to healthcare professionals and health organisations in Ireland is widespread, a review has found. It recommends that the Health Service Executive should highlight that it does not support pharmaceutical industry payments to HSE healthcare professionals, accepting that such payments may influence behaviour in a negative way in terms of prescribing medicines.

Data analysis for 2023 for the study shows that drug companies in Ireland made 4,509 payments to healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations, amounting to over €14.4m that year. The highest individual payment during the year by a drug company was €50,462 to a medical practitioner. There were 3,508 payments to healthcare professionals, amounting to €5.5m and 64 payments that exceeded €8,000.

The review was conducted by Professor Michael Barry, Clinical Director of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, which conducts assessments on the cost effectiveness of medicines for the HSE to consider, when making decisions on whether medicines should be made available for the public system. Prof Barry has advised the HSE that it should demand a 100% disclosure rate for all healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations in receipt of payments from the pharmaceutical industry.

In his review of the 2023 payments, Prof Barry said drug companies fund many healthcare settings, like hospitals and universities, where education and professional development take place. The industry also funds some medical societies. Prof Barry said the concern is not only are some societies involved in the education, research and development of prescribers, but some may also be involved in generating treatment guidelines.

The payments by companies are publicly disclosed in accordance with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) code of practice since 2016. The details on the public website www.transferofvalue.ie come from up to 50 companies, including non-IPHA members. The payments, officially called Transfer of Value, are made for research and development, donations and sponsorship (including medical education), consultancy fees, registration fees for health staff and travel costs to attend events.

The company that made the greatest number of payments to healthcare professionals was Novartis, with 374 such payments. Abbvie paid the most to healthcare professionals, amounting to €880,952.

Prof Barry said that many would consider that the pharmaceutical industry should not have any role in the education of healthcare professionals and prescribers. He said that the medical literature has highlighted that doctors with ties to industry may be more inclined than their colleagues to prescribe a brand name drug, despite the availability of a cheaper generic version.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) said that under the latest data for 2024, a record level of 98% of healthcare professionals had provided named transparency on the payments received. It said that since 2016, companies have disclosed the financial payments, whether direct, or indirect, in cash or in kind, made to healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations.

It also said that the latest data for 2024, just published, shows that payments to healthcare professionals came to €5.6m, a 4% decrease on the 2023 figure. It added that €178,169 was paid to 74 unnamed healthcare professionals last year, according to the data.

The IPHA said the total amount paid to healthcare organisations last year was also down 3%, at over €8.6m, compared to the previous year. All healthcare organisations in receipt of the payments were disclosed individually last year, which the association said meant 100% transparency.

The IPHA said that while its members are required to disclose the payments, currently, of the 51 companies who publish their data through the platform, 11 are non-IPHA members and 40 are IPHA members. The association said it is committed to integrity and transparency in all these interactions and the aim is to reach 100% named disclosure for healthcare professionals and it will support member companies in using legitimate interest, as a legal basis for making these disclosures under data protection law.