Dear Alex,
Thank you for your response to the e-drug comments about Patient-View.
You have not exactly taken my name in vain, but the point on funding up
to 20% that I made in the BMJ article was about patient organisations,
run by patients, providing direct support and services to patients, and
mostly charities.
Patient-View is not at all in this category, and I would consider any
general funding from industry inappropriate. Funding from industry,
direct or indirect via PR agencies etc, for some specific purpose would
need to be justified and described in each case, and preferably approved
by an independent ethics committee.
You wrote:
"You mention a number of companies listed on our website. You describe
them as our "main sponsors", suggesting that we are being continuously
funded by these companies-which is not the case. These companies
were sponsors of past projects. We list sources of funding (even past
ones) in the interests of transparency."
Your listing of past sponsors is fine, but you need to say on your website
what funding Patient-View is using or receiving NOW, from what
organisations, and what for.
With best wishes,
Andrew Herxheimer
Co-founder, DIPEx
Emeritus Fellow, UK Cochrane Centre
9 Park Crescent, London N3 2NL
e-mail: a@herxheimer.net