GSK discloses 2012 payments to Australian healthcare professionals

As part GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) ongoing commitment to increase transparency, we are disclosing today, the aggregate amount of fees paid to Australian healthcare professionals and health-related organisations for all sponsorships, grants, speaking engagements and consulting services during the calendar year of 2012.

The total amount was $2,533,137 and covers all parts of the GSK business in Australia, including Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Healthcare. This aggregate number is broken into the following categories:

• $799,289: for grants to individual healthcare professionals in relation to attendance at domestic and international conferences and symposia.
• $890,574: for consultancy fees in relation to speaker presentations and work on clinical development advisory boards.
• $843,274: in sponsorships, donations or grants to health related organisations (non-individual)

This information will be posted to www.gsk.com.au as part of GSK’s commitment to disclose the aggregate figure annually each year.

In comparison to last year, the support to healthcare professionals and organisations has remained steady with a small increase in payments overall. This includes an increase in both grants and consultancy fee payments to healthcare professionals (individual) and a decrease in sponsorships to health related organisations (non-individual).

“GSK is committed to increasing transparency around payments to healthcare professionals and organisations. We recently advocated for widespread industry change and it’s great to see aggregate payment disclosure now included in the Medicines Code of Conduct,” Geoff McDonald General Manager Pharmaceuticals GSK Australia said.

“There is widespread community expectation of increased transparency in commercial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals. We fully support greater transparency around payments and I am working with the Medicines Australia Transparency Working Group chartered with finding a solution to individual payment disclosure,” Geoff McDonald said.

GSK believes that HCPs and the healthcare organisations that we work with should be fairly compensated for the services and expertise they provide to us. However, payments must not be excessive and must never be an inducement or reward for prescribing our products. We have clear standards, aligned to international and regional codes of practice and appropriate country laws and regulations, which govern these payments and help safeguard against this risk.

“GSK will continue to be strong supporters of transparency and we will continue to release our data on an annual basis. We believe increased transparency improves consumer confidence in our industry,” he said.

GSK also disclosed this month the grants and donations made to community and patient groups during 2012. This information can be found on the GSK website. GSK has been disclosing individual payments to patient and community groups for the last five years.

GSK is the first pharmaceutical company in Australia to make public the aggregate amount spent on grants, donations and sponsorships with healthcare professionals and related organisations.

HCP Definition: For the purposes of this initiative, Healthcare Practitioners are defined as: “Members of the medical, dental, pharmacy and nursing professions and any other persons, who may, as a result of their professional qualifications, be able to prescribe, recommend, purchase, supply or administer medicines.”