Comments on: Are drug companies hijacking consumer advocacy?

By: Dr Ian Haines

Dr Ian Haines — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

In health-care, the apparent hijacking and corrupting of many patient advocate/ community organisations by ‘Big Pharma’ is not really surprising. The very sophisticated and multi-layered marketing techniques used by increasingly well-trained ‘big pharma’ professionals have unfortunately reduced the credibility of these patient groups. Maintaining independence through transparency and full declaration of potential conflicts of interest are absolutely vital if these patient groups are to play a meaningful role in public policy development and fulfill their significant potential.

By: Professor Ric Day

Professor Ric Day — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Consumer’s health related organisations need to attend carefully to ensuring transparency regarding their funding sources, proportion of total funding received from various sources, rules for accepting funding, and their governance arrangements around funding so the potential influences on the opinions and positions put by the organisation publicly can be assessed for potential bias. Many large disease related consumer organisations in Australia are well aware of these matters and such information is provided in annual reports and on their websites. There is guidance in Australia for Consumer Health Organisations via Consumer’s Health Forum (CHF) - it was developed jointly by CHF and Medicines Australia (the prescription pharmaceutical manufacturers national association) and had wide input from consumers and their organisations.
Consumer organisations should strive to raise funds for their important activities as much as possible from sources other than those pharmaceutical companies with products relevant to that particular disease the organisation is focused upon. Guidance for individual consumer advocates should reflect that directed at health professionals with regard to potential and actual conflicts of interest (eg Royal Australian College of Physicians Guidelines for Interactions with the Pharmaceutical Industry) when offering or submitting public opinions that involve products of companies with which the consumer has an association e.g. consultant, recipient of gifts etc, or when policies that might impact on companies are being discussed. There should be no sense of disguising or omitting such information - the impact of any comment or input however useful is diminished.

By: Helen Hopkins, Consumers Health Forum

Helen Hopkins, Consumers Health Forum — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Australians should not underestimate the strength and influence of our consumer organisations that represent millions of people. We are heard through attending major events such as the Joint Medicines Policy Conference next week. In Australia we uphold transparent and accountable processes for any relationships with pharmaceutical companies.
Health consumers value our PBS and persuaded the pharmaceutical industry that cost of generic medicines must be reduced to world prices while retaining early access to innovative medicines and clinical trials. Consumer networks withstood direct to consumer advertising of prescription medicines and made sure that Medicines Australia strengthened its Code of Conduct against back door attempts at patient education. We achieved transparency about new medicines through publication of PBAC decisions and direct opportunities for consumer, input including some consumer impact statements.
No wonder a Canadian speaker wants to come and hear about how consumer organisations in Australia work!
Our leading consumer advocates will welcome Durhane Wong-Reiger to a workshop for consumer organisations to share the challenges we face. This workshop is co-convened by Consumers Health Forum of Australia and Medicines Australia as it provides an excellent opportunity for consumers to network before the 2008 Joint Medicines Policy Conference. Australian consumers will speak at the conference and the audience will include a strong, well-prepared contingent of Australian consumer representatives.
We recognise the challenges of collaboration with industry and that's why the Consumers Health Forum of Australia and Medicines Australia collaborated to develop the Working Together Guide in 2006. That's why the revised version will be distributed at the 2008 workshop and conference.
We encourage all those interested in medicines policy in Australia to get behind the consumer organisations that represent the people at the centre of health care.