title: Health advocacy organizations and the pharmaceutical industry: an analysis of disclosure practices.
abstract: Health advocacy organizations (HAOs) are influential stakeholders in health policy. Although their advocacy tends to closely correspond with the pharmaceutical industry's marketing aims, the financial relationships between HAOs and the pharmaceutical industry have rarely been analyzed. We used Eli Lilly and Company's grant registry to examine its grant-giving policies. We also examined HAO Web sites to determine their grant-disclosure patterns. Only 25% of HAOs that received Lilly grants acknowledged Lilly's contributions on their Web sites, and only 10% acknowledged Lilly as a grant event sponsor. No HAO disclosed the exact amount of a Lilly grant. As highly trusted organizations, HAOs should disclose all corporate grants, including the purpose and the amount. Absent this disclosure, legislators, regulators, and the public cannot evaluate possible conflicts of interest or biases in HAO advocacy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. smr4@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Sheila M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Rothman
authors.forename: Victoria H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Raveis
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Rothman
mesh_terms: D030881:Disclosure; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000941:ethics*; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D016134:Organizational Policy; D009938:Organizations / Q000941:ethics*; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D012042:Registries; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000941:ethics; D014481:United States