Drug firms funding UK patient groups that lobby for NHS approval of medicines

Drug companies are systematically funding grassroots patient groups that lobby the NHS medicines watchdog to approve the rollout of their drugs, the Observer has revealed.

An investigation by the Observer has found that of 173 drug appraisals conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) since April 2021, 138 involved patient groups that had a financial link to the maker of the drug being assessed, or have since received funding.

Often, the financial interests were not clearly disclosed in NICE transparency documents.

Many of the groups that received the payments went on to make impassioned pleas to England’s medicines watchdog calling for treatments to be approved for diseases and illnesses including cancer, heart disease, migraine and diabetes. Others made submissions appealing NICE decisions when medicines were refused for being too expensive.

In one case, a small heart failure charity that gave evidence to a NICE committee arguing for a drug to be approved received £200,000 from the pharmaceutical company, according to the maker’s spending records.

In another case, a cancer patient group supplied evidence relating to drugs made by 10 companies – from nine of which it had received funding.

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Source: The Guardian, 22 July 2023