Patients expect transparency in doctors’ relationships with the pharmaceutical industry

Tattersall, Martin H N; Dimoska, Aneta

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb02507.x

Topics

In reply: We thank Cole for her suggestions. We note the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Guidelines for ethical relationships between physicians and industry state: “Industry sponsorship to attend conferences ... should usually be restricted to those in which the professional anticipates active engagement ... and when attendance without support is not possible”.1

University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.

Correspondence: mtatt@med.usyd.edu.au

1. Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Guidelines for ethical relationships between physicians and industry. 3rd ed. Sydney: RACP, 2006.
2. Tattersall MHN, Dimoska A, Gan K. Patients expect transparency in doctors’ relationships with the pharmaceutical industry. Med J Aust 2009; 190: 65-68. <MJA full text>
3. Steinbrook R. Online disclosure of physician–industry relationships. N Engl J Med 2009; 360: 325-327.
4. Don’t back down on disclosure [editorial]. Boston Globe 2009; 5 Feb. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/02/05/dont_back_down_on_disclosure/ (accessed Mar 2009).
5. Royal College of Physicians. Innovating for health. Patients, physicians, the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS. London: RCP, Feb 2009.

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.