To see, or not to see, that is the question: can public disclosure really improve transparency between medicine and the pharmaceutical industry?
OBJECTIVE
To critically review the potential effect of the public reporting of pharmaceutical company payments to healthcare professionals on the relationship between medicine and industry.


METHODS
This review is based on an examination of the 'Transparency Model' put out recently for consultation by Medicines Australia.


RESULTS
Public reporting in itself will neither sharpen the boundaries between medicine and the pharmaceutical industry nor restore public confidence.


CONCLUSIONS
Focusing on payments for clinical research and on the larger payments to healthcare professionals would lead to a better understanding of the interplay between science and marketing.
Medical Director, Western Australian Centre for Mental Health Policy Research, Clinical Associate Professor, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA Australia geoff.smith@health.wa.gov.au.
Geoffrey P
GP
Smith
payments; pharmaceutical industry research; public disclosure