Did you know that hundreds of millions are paid by industry to the UK healthcare sector every year? In 2025 it was £929 million. In 2024 it was £813 million.

Around 70% of the total is research payments. This money is lumped together in totals from each company and is not broken down into how much is given to which researchers or how much is given to which particular drug being researched.

This creates a significant blind spot on what money is going to whom and reduces transparency regarding how funds are being allocated.

Funds are also given to:

• Doctors including media doctors
• Teaching hospitals
• Health Charities
• Parliamentary lobby gorups
• Surgeon Societies
• Funds conerences and events

Studies have shown that industry funding can influence research outcomes, including overstating benefits and downplaying risks. We know this this was a key factor underpinning the mesh scandal.

Industry funding can also contribute to prescribing bias where a treatment is chosen not because it is the best or most cost-effective option, but because it has been more heavily marketed.

Payments from pharmaceutical companies can be checked through a voluntary industry transparency database in the UK called Disclosure UK.

But there is no equivalent mandatory public disclosure system for medical device industry payments in the UK.

Transparency matters. Patients, journalists, politicians, policy makers and anyone with an interest in safe, effective and cost effective healthcare – deserves to know about potential conflicts of interest.