Many doctors in the US are shying away from invitations to work with pharmaceutical companies due to increased public scrutiny of these controversial relationships, according to an article in the June 18 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia. The article by health journalist Ray Moynihan explains that in the US, the Physician Payment Sunshine Act 2009 requires every payment to a health professional be published online.

But in Australia "darkness remains", with new proposals for increased transparency nowhere near as comprehensive as the US law.

The article refers to US industry reports urging pharmaceutical companies to reframe their relationship with "key opinion leaders" as being based on science rather than marketing. "Yet while the new rhetoric is about science, expanding markets remains the reality", Mr Moynihan writes.

"When comprehensive disclosure finally comes Down Under, some among us may well choose to kiss goodbye to the corporate-funded key opinion leaders, no matter how much scientific rhetoric is used to try to disguise their promotional activities", he writes.