- Peter Doshi, associate professor1,
- Kim Witczak, co-founder2,
- Linda Wastila, professor1
- 1University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, MD, USA
- 2Woody Matters, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- pdoshi{at}rx.umaryland.edu
Research published in The BMJ in 2020 found that 72% of leaders of influential US professional medical associations had financial relationships with industry.1 Boytchev’s new investigation2—finding that many royal colleges have financial ties with the drug and medical device industries—adds to the list of things marking the “special relationship” between the UK and US.
In their defence, the royal colleges told The BMJ that industry funding represents “a fraction of their overall budgets.” The Royal College of Physicians said that “no corporate partner has ever provided more than 1% of our annual income.” Other royal colleges said that …
