Pharmaceutical and medical device industry funding of patient groups is common, but few groups have policies that govern corporate sponsorship, and transparency about the funding is "inadequate," according to a study published in The BMJ.
Researchers analyzed 26 observational studies, which included patient groups from multiple disease areas and were conducted in high-income countries, primarily the United States and Europe.
Researchers found that estimated corporate funding for patient groups ranged from 20 percent to 83 percent. But of all patient groups that received industry funding, only about one-third disclosed this information on their websites.
The analysis also showed that the proportion of patient groups with policies governing corporate sponsorship ranged from 2 percent to 64 percent. Also, industry-funded patient groups generally supported their sponsors' interests.