The www.transparence.sante.gouv.fr platform launched this Thursday allows each Internet user to know the existence of links of interest that link industries to their health professionals.
Would you like to know your doctor’s interests? Nothing could be simpler now. The Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine, has just launched this Thursday website which contains the Transparence-Santé public database. This lists all the links of interest between companies that market health or cosmetic products and health professionals. Provided for by the decree known as the “Sunshine Act”, this important initiative gives concrete expression to the Minister’s commitment to transparency and the prevention of conflicts of interest in the health sector.
The end of the 2013 Sunshine Act
Indeed, the law (known as “health products”) of December 29, 2011 and its implementing decree (known as the “Sunshine Act”) of May 21, 2013 impose an obligation to publish the relationships of interest that companies have with other players in the world of health, in particular health professionals, associations, learned societies and the press. But with the site www.transparence.sante.gouv.fr, Marisol Touraine wanted to go as far as possible within the existing legal framework, by making public any advantage (donation of equipment, transport, accommodation, etc.) granted by a company to a professional with a value greater than or equal to 10 euros (this threshold is as low as possible within the current framework of the law), and any convention or agreement (which may relate to participation in a congress, research activities, training actions, etc.) binding a company to a professional.
Links of interest do not mean conflicts of interest
Thanks to the simplicity of its search functions, this platform allows each Internet user, each citizen, to know the existence of these links of interest and to appreciate in all objectivity the nature of the relationships that link the health industries to health professionals.
But beware, this base “in no way aims to prohibit these necessary relationships or to stigmatize anyone.” It is there to regain confidence, not to instill mistrust. And I want to send a clear message: who says link of interest does not necessarily mean conflict of interest, ”said the Minister in her speech presenting the platform. And the latter recalled that it is impossible for an industry “to develop high-performance products without forging close relationships with health professionals.” It is even these relationships that have forged, in part, the excellence of our industries in this sector of activity with strong growth potential. These links of interest, they are therefore perfectly justified and I do not question them: but they must be made public and now they are. Transparency makes it possible to fight against conflicts of interest, ”she insisted.
Information updated twice a year
Finally, the information contained in the database comes from declarations made by the companies. They are updated on the site twice a year and remain accessible there for five years. “Companies are responsible for the accuracy of published content,” the statement concludes. At present, more than 1,130 companies have registered on the site to transmit their data.
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