The European Patients Forum: a model of secrecy and conflict of interest

In a new report published on 14 July, Health Action International (HAI) Europe reveals how privileged access to European Union fora has been accorded to the European Patients’ Forum despite its links to the pharmaceutical industry being couched in secrecy.

HAI Europe urges the European Commission, currently considering a ‘European Transparency Initiative’, to make rules on transparency mandatory so that citizens can have the full facts about who is behind the activities of non-government organisations and lobbyists.

HAI Europe also urges the Commission and the European Medicines Agency to reconsider its relationship with the European Patients Forum. Instead they should consult with patients’ groups which are transparent and accountable to those that they represent and which are free of industry funding.

To read the HAI Europe press release, click here. To report the full report Does the European Patients’ Forum represent patient or industry interests? A case study in the need for mandatory financial disclosure, click here.