Public health experts have warned that millions of dollars poured into community health groups by Big Pharma could be a “back door” to direct advertising to patients. 

Between 2013 to 2016, pharmaceutical companies spent over $34.5 million supporting 230 health consumer groups, according to an editorial in Australian Prescriber.

This sponsorship may be a way to bypass laws prohibiting direct market to patients “through a back door” of industry-sponsored support groups or events, write Professor Lisa Parker, from University of Sydney’s School of Pharmacy and Professor Lisa Bero from the University of Colorado in Denver in the US.

“This access could be used to gather information for marketing or for new types of promotion, such as through social media,” they wrote.