Patient groups often aren’t transparent about industry funding

Patient groups often aren’t transparent about their funding from the drug and health care industries, according to a new analysis of studies that analyzed such connections. Depending on the patient groups that were evaluated, data from 26 studies revealed that anywhere between 20% to almost 90% of these organizations received some sort of industry funding. A smaller subset of studies included in the review found that only a quarter of patient groups — which are often focused on advocacy and education — disclosed the funding on their websites. Of the studies that looked at the average amount of funding per patient group, the range varied from around $200,000 to more than $356,000. Although the findings were based on a limited set of studies, the authors of the review suggest greater transparency about industry ties among patient groups.