UK Pharma Transparency Database Hits Record £929.6 Million in 2025, Driven by R&D Growth and New Disclosure Guidance
核心洞察
Total transfers of value from pharmaceutical companies to UK healthcare professionals and organisations reached £929.6 million in 2025, a 14.3% increase from £813.3 million in 2024.
R&D spending accounted for 70% of all disclosed value at £647.3 million, rising 16.8% year-on-year, though this represents less than 10% of total UK pharma R&D investment.
The proportion of healthcare professionals named against non-R&D payments reached a record 93.6%, up from 91.9% in 2024, reflecting sustained transparency advocacy.
The latest Disclosure UK data for 2025 reveals that total transfers of value from pharmaceutical companies to NHS healthcare professionals and organisations climbed to £929.6 million, marking a 14.3% increase over the £813.3 million disclosed for 2024 and continuing a steady upward trajectory from £692.5 million in 2023. Over two years, the total has grown by £237.1 million, reflecting both genuine increases in research activity and evolving regulatory expectations around transparency reporting.
The figures, published as part of the eleventh annual Disclosure UK release, capture payments and benefits in kind made by 150 pharmaceutical companies—including all ABPI (搜索) member companies and non-member companies signed up to the ABPI Code of Practice. ABPI member companies, which tend to be the largest and most research-active firms, accounted for 94% of all disclosed activity at £871.5 million.
R&D spending dominates growth
Research and development remains the primary driver of disclosed transfers, accounting for 70% of the total. R&D spending rose 16.8% from £554.0 million in 2024 to £647.3 million in 2025, compared with £467.0 million in 2023. However, the ABPI (搜索) cautions that R&D data in Disclosure UK represents a relatively small portion—less than 10%—of total pharmaceutical industry R&D investment in the UK, meaning further analysis will be needed to interpret the increase fully.
Dr Amit Aggarwal, ABPI (搜索) Executive Director of Medical Affairs and Strategic Partnerships, noted that the reasons for the R&D increase "are likely to be multi-factorial and need to be read in context."
Non-R&D transfers and the package deals effect
Non-R&D transfers of value also grew, rising 8.9% from £259.2 million in 2024 to £282.3 million in 2025. The largest single non-R&D category—fees for contracted services to organisations—increased by almost a quarter (24.4%), from £107.9 million to £134.2 million. The majority of this increase appears to stem from payments to third-party homecare service providers.
This shift was partly driven by new guidance from the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA (搜索)), published in January 2026, addressing so-called "package deals"—commercial arrangements where the purchase of a medicine is linked to associated benefits such as homecare nursing services, genetic or biomarker testing, patient education, or digital monitoring tools.
Alex Fell, PMCPA (搜索) Chief Executive, explained: "In 2025, the PMCPA conducted an analysis of package deals, with input from pharmaceutical companies, service providers, and healthcare organisations. What we found was that practices around package deals varied considerably across the industry, particularly in relation to disclosure of transfers of value."
The guidance sets out when package-deal transfers must be disclosed, when they are exempt, and how companies should make that determination. The PMCPA (搜索) has granted a grace period until the end of June 2027, during which it will not adjudicate on complaints related to disclosure of package-deal transfers of value.
Company contributions to the cost of events also increased by 15%, from £67.4 million in 2024 to £77.5 million in 2025, which may also partly reflect the new package deals guidance. The PMCPA (搜索)'s preference is that companies disclose against the recipient healthcare organisation that ultimately benefits, and in the absence of a dedicated package deals category, such disclosures may be made in the "contribution to costs of events" column.
Collaborative working declines
In contrast to other categories, collaborative working between industry and the NHS decreased from £22.1 million (2.74% of total values) in 2024 to £14.5 million (1.6%) in 2025. Donations and grants to healthcare organisations also fell, from £56.7 million in 2024 to £50.7 million in 2025.
Transparency reaches new highs
The estimated proportion of healthcare professionals named against non-R&D transfers of value reached 93.6% in 2025, up from 91.9% in 2024 and 80.8% in 2023. Notably, 95.1% of the non-R&D value that healthcare professionals receive is now disclosed against a named individual. More than 60 companies used the lawful basis of Legitimate Interests under GDPR to publish information about healthcare professionals.
Patient Safety Commissioner Professor Henrietta Hughes commented: "Transparency is at the heart of patient safety, and Disclosure UK is an important part of making the relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare professionals visible and accountable to the public. It's encouraging to see industry's continued commitment to this process. But transparency is a journey, not a destination."
The top three professional areas by value receiving non-R&D transfers were oncology, nursing, and haematology. The top 10 highest-paying companies—all ABPI (搜索) members—accounted for 61.7% of total transfers of value across all 150 disclosing companies.
The ABPI (搜索) noted that while the increasing proportion of named healthcare professionals demonstrates "remarkable progress," a minority of healthcare professionals may have legitimate reasons not to be named, and companies will comply with UK data protection laws to uphold those individuals' rights where objections are raised.