Engaging with healthcare professionals
From collaborating on clinical trials to providing high quality, balanced information about our medicines and vaccines, we regularly work with healthcare professionals. In all of our interactions we aim to be transparent about our work, operate with integrity, and always put the interests of patients first.
Interactions with HCPs
For many years, we have sought to show that whenever we talk to a doctor, nurse or other prescriber, it is patients’ interests that always come first. We understand that our role in providing healthcare professionals (HCPs) with new data and information about our medicines, must be done clearly and without any perception of conflict of interest. We believe that transparent scientific dialogue and engagement with experts is in the interests of all those working to develop new medicines, improve clinical practice and care for patients. These are the principles that underpin our policy of engagement with HCPs and we remain fully committed to them.
For more information on GSK’s global policy please see our code on HCP engagement (PDF).
Collaborating on clinical trials and research
HCPs help us identify potential volunteers for clinical trials, administer the investigational medicine or vaccine to patients, and monitor the results. This unique medical insight and knowledge is vital to the development of new treatments.
We have strict policies governing all our work with HCPs. These state that:
- all clinical trial investigators are selected solely on their qualifications to conduct good quality clinical research
- their history of using or not using GSK products must not be taken into account when deciding whether to include them as clinical trial investigators
- no payments are offered or made to influence their judgement on whether to enrol or maintain a patient in a clinical study
- gifts are not permissible to healthcare professionals involved in research projects for GSK
- all payments to HCPs must be governed by contracts
- any payment must reflect fair market value for the work performed and the services provided.
We also have a commitment to publicly disclose the research payments that are made to healthcare professionals and to their institutions for conducting clinical research.
Disclosure of payments made to HCPs
We acknowledge the importance of increased transparency and of putting the patient at the centre of every decision we take. We remain committed to disclosing the payments we make to HCPs and intend to expand our reporting of payments to individual HCPs.
Since 2019, where legally permitted, we report individual level payments made each year to HCPs for attending educational meetings and for the provision of services, such as speaking at events or attending advisory boards. Where individual level disclosure is not legally permitted, we will continue to report aggregate payments.