Freebies to be reported in push for transparency
Drug companies will declare controversial gifts and payments to Kiwi doctors from next year, Medicines New Zealand has promised.
Research has repeatedly shown the payments influence treatment decisions, including a paper in July which found American doctors who received money from the makers of brand-name gabapentin painkillers were almost twice as likely to prescribe those drugs, rather than a cheaper generic version.
New Zealand is lagging behind in transparency, as Australia, Britain and the United States all now disclose drug company gifts and payments. The payments range from hospitality, such as paid lunches and dinners, to thousands of dollars in sponsorship to attend international conferences, to speaking and consulting fees.
In New Zealand, health workers at district health boards are supposed to declare all gifts to a gift register, but a Stuff investigation found their use was patchy at best.
Medicines New Zealand chief executive Dr Graeme Jarvis told Stuff in 2015 that a transparency scheme would be up and running in 2016. He said transparency guidelines would now be rolled out in 2020. He would not reveal what the scheme would involve, except for the fact drug companies rather than doctors would collate the payment data. The guidelines would be voluntary, but Medicines New Zealand would be ‘‘strongly recommending’’ them and he was ‘‘pretty confident’’ all drug companies would sign up.
New Zealand Medical Association chairwoman Kate Baddock said the guidelines were a good initiative to improve transparency around financial relationships between doctors and drug companies.
‘‘I think all doctors are made very aware of the risk of prescribing bias. I think that this set of guidelines will help identify how to manage that reality.’’
The scheme still had to be approved by the association’s board and put out for consultation, she said.
Auckland University obstetrics and gynaecology professor Cindy Farquhar, who has written papers calling for greater transparency around drug company payments, was frustrated New Zealand had fallen behind.
‘‘It’s disappointing how long it’s taking for us to match our colleagues in the US, Australia and in the United Kingdom.’’
Stuff investigations found other health workers such as nurses also receive payments. Jarvis said once the scheme was rolled out for doctors, Medicines New Zealand would look at extending it to other health professionals.
Some drug companies have already dialled back the payments. Glaxo Smith Kline stopped paying New Zealand doctors speaking fees in 2016 and did not sponsor any conference attendance from 2016 to
2018. In 2017 they paid New Zealand doctors $60,000 for advice or feedback, but that fell to $25 in 2018.
In Australia, drug companies spent $13.9 million in the six months from May to October 2018, sponsoring health workers to attend independent educational meetings, including $1.3m just on ‘‘hospitality’’.