Analysis shows slight increase in R&D spend
Six months after the launch of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry’s (ABPI) Disclosure UK database, analysis of collected data has shown an increase in industry spending on research and development activities as well as a lower than originally estimated rate of healthcare professionals willing to disclose.
Disclosure UK is a searchable online database of payments and benefits in kind made by pharmaceutical industry working in partnership with leading UK healthcare professionals (HCPs) and organisations (HCOs) to improve patient care. Part of a broader Europe-wide initiative, aimed at bringing greater transparency to industry collaborations with health professionals on the development and delivery of life-saving and life-enhancing medicines.
Research organisation RAND Europe analysed a snapshot of data from January 2017 and compared it with a data snapshot analysed in June 2016. This analysis showed that there has been little change over the six-month period., including a slight increase, from £229.3 million to £254 million, in activities related to the research and development of new medicines.
Additionally, the analysis demonstrated discrepancies in how companies record information relating to the percentage of HCPs that did not give their consent to publish details of payments or benefits in kind they received. Although this data is accurate, recording it in different ways makes calculating industry-level information from the amalgamated data difficult.
“There were differences in how individual companies had interpreted the data request, which led to inconsistencies in the dataset,” said John Sussex, chief economist at RAND Europe. “The impact of correcting these inconsistencies means that the proportion of healthcare professionals consenting to be named in the dataset in June 2016 was typically 55%. The analysis showed no change to this figure for January 2017.”
“It is important for us to review and audit the Disclosure UK data in light of the greater transparency that we are trying to achieve and continually work to improve the information we are making publicly available,” added Mike Thompson, CEO of ABPI. “Our intent is to ensure 100% of UK healthcare professionals who receive a payment or benefit in kind for the invaluable work they do with pharmaceutical companies in developing medicines and improving patient treatment gives their consent for us to publish their details.”