Amid global calls to end pharma’s direct sponsorship of physician education, the British Medical Journal writes about an investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that found industry sponsorship of sessions attended by thousands of general practitioners, who assume the programs are totally independent.

Industry representatives have confirmed that similar practices take place in the UK, where roughly half of all education for doctors is sponsored by drugmakers, writes Ray Moynihan, honorary lecturer at the University of Newcastle in Australia. He describes leaked documents and e-mails from a range of sources showing pharma sponsors have input into the selection of some speakers at seminars held in recent years, despite the fact that these have been aggressively sold to general practitioners in brochures claiming that “all content is independent of industry influence.”

The industry trade group, Medicines Australia, confirmed the practice of inviting input from sponsors into the selection of speakers is by no means uncommon, while the view from the industry is that allowing sponsors to suggest speakers does not compromise the independence of medical education, as the educational providers have ultimate control over who speaks.

However, the investigation in Australia revealed several examples where sponsors suggestions were embraced by the company providing supposedly independent education, writes Moynihan.

Industry representatives in Australia and the UK strongly argue that, in the interests of transparency, doctors attending educational sessions should be fully and explicitly informed if sponsors have suggested speakers for these sessions. Such a degree of disclosure could radically change perceptions of the content of accredited education, says Moynihan, which many doctors believe to be independent of sponsor influence.

The evidence tentatively indicates that the prescribing habits of doctors may be affected by attending sponsored educational events, albeit only in the short term. Oversight of these educational events is currently a self-regulatory affair, and institutions seem uninterested in guaranteeing independence, argues Moynihan.

Perhaps the recent revelations from Australia, and confirmation from the industry itself that it is “not unusual” for sponsors to suggest speakers, will sharpen the lines of debate about how to achieve more independent education or at least greater transparency, he concludes.