London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Conflicts of interest alleged in ‘multi-layered web of influence’ as Big Pharma pays millions to informal Parliament groups

Conflicts of interest alleged in ‘multi-layered web of influence’ as Big Pharma pays millions to informal Parliament groups

Health-related semi-formal working groups of the British Parliament are taking millions in donations from the pharmaceutical industry, which presents an obvious potential for conflicts of interest, a new study has said.
All-Party Parliamentary Groups, or APPGs, are the less-regulated cousins of select committees, where MPs and peers interested in a certain topic can work together. There are currently over 700 of them, focused on issues from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and from a genetic condition called ‘22q11 Syndrome’ to zoos and aquariums.

Just like the formal parliamentary working groups, APPGs can raise awareness of certain problems, hold inquiries, and produce reports, but they have fewer formal rules as to how they should operate. For example, they are allowed to involve external organizations to co-author their publications, or take funding from external sponsors to cover their administrative expenses or organize events.

A new study published in the scientific journal PLOS One focuses on 146 health-related registered APPGs and the money some of them received from the drug industry.

Between 2012 and 2018, pharmaceutical companies provided almost £2.2 million ($3 million), or roughly 30 percent of all funding received by 58 such groups, the study’s authors estimate.

The money in question was paid either by drug companies themselves or through industry-funded patient organizations, which authors of the study consider lobbyist vehicles for the corporations. They said the arrangement is part of a “multi-layered web of influence” that corporations have on policy making.

The APPGs for Cancer and Health were the biggest recipients by value, with the former receiving virtually all its funding (99.61 percent) from industry sources. 22 groups received 100 percent of their external funding from them.

“We suggest that, in the context of health related APPGs, payments from the pharmaceutical industry represent institutional conflicts of interest as they create circumstances where the primary interest (policymaking in the interests of public health) is at risk of being unduly influenced by the secondary interest (the pharmaceutical industry’s goal of maximising profits),” the study said.

The researchers backed up their argument by pointing to the content of the output that the informal groups have made over the years. Seven publications by APPGs for Cancer and HIV that involved input from external organisations named 28 contributors from 13 different companies. Nineteen of them had provided payments to the APPG publishing the report, which “suggests that there is a link between providing payments to APPGs and being involved in their activities.”

Speaking to the Guardian, the authors of the study stressed that they were not alleging any impropriety on the part of the APPGs they looked into. But the groups “are a key part of policymaking and it is clear that corporate money is entering the APPG bloodstream,” Emily Rickard and Dr Piotr Ozieranski, from Bath University’s Department of Social and Policy Sciences, said.

They believe that Big Pharma’s influence on healthcare policies has to be analysed holistically, and that there need to be stricter transparency rules for APPGs to manage conflicts of interest. Parliament is currently examining the institution and whether it requires additional regulation.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×