Advocacy group financial ties to drug companies probed

The Wall Street Journal Blog is reporting on growing interest about drug company financial support for health care advocacy organizations. The latest report on funding from Eli Lilly found that only one in four groups that receive the funding disclose it on their website. The company admits that they fund groups that advocate in areas where they sell a lot of drugs or hope to expand their market. Senator Grassley has highlighted the role of drug company funding to groups that advocate for people with mental illness. Last summer a controversy erupted when the American Academy of Family Physicians accepted funding from Coca Cola for an obesity prevention project.
Ellen Andrews