Transparency: Sponsoring of patient initiatives 2021, update

Project team: Nikolaus Gregor-Patera
Duration: February 2023 – April 2023
AIHTA - Project „Transparency“

Background: Transparency of the relationship between industry and patient initiatives has been discussed extensively internationally. In 2015 pharmaceutical companies in Austria have committed themselves to disclosing financial contributions to patient initiatives.

Project objective and research question: The project has the goal to answer the following question: To what extent were Austrian patient initiatives for various diseases in the year 2021 financially supported by industry? Which industrial sponsors supported which sorts of patient initiatives in 2021?

Methods: To answer the research question, the following method is used: Analysis of information on sponsoring of patient initiatives available on the website of PHARMIG (Association of Austria’s pharmaceutical industry/ Verband der pharmazeutischen Industrie Österreich, with its currently 120 member companies).