Big drug firms have spent millions of pounds on bankrolling events and trips for NHS staff, an Independent on Sunday investigation of trust records has revealed. The catalogue of freebies includes Pfizer providing hospitality to dozens of doctors attending a meeting at the five-star Gleneagles hotel resort in Scotland, and a dinner meeting between three Eli Lilly staff and two nurses at which 22 alcoholic drinks were consumed.
Dr Joanna Moncrieff, at the Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, said: "Any level of hospitality for doctors provided by drug companies is an issue because it is bribery – it's an inducement to prescribe a particular drug that has nothing to do with the therapeutic merits of the drug concerned."
British drugs companies do not disclose spending on hospitality and sponsorship, but figures from US company reports reveal that in 2010 Bristol-Myers Squibb spent £2.24bn on "marketing, selling and administrative" costs, and Merck spent £1.6m on grants, donations or payments to more than 146 health institutions and patient organisations in the UK.
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