Services - Pharma Cooperation Code

Disclosure of cooperation grants

17.07.2025

Transparency is the key to the creation of confidence in relations with the general public and patients. That is why the European pharmaceutical industry discloses the pecuniary benefits provided between the pharmaceutical industry and stakeholders in the healthcare sector.

The exchange between the pharmaceutical industry and the actors in the health care system is essential for the research of new treatments and the further development of proven therapies. This is the only way to improve the quality of medical care for patients. The pharmaceutical industry is aware that relations with healthcare providers take place in a sensitive area.

This is why the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) adopted its new EFPIA Disclosure Code on 24 June 2013. Based on this, scienceindustries, as the responsible association in Switzerland, drew up the Pharma Cooperation Code (PKK), which came into force in January 2014. The partner associations Intergenerika, Interpharma and vips have also subscribed to the PCC.

What commitment have the PCC signatory companies made?
Since 2016, the signatory companies disclose each year on their websites accessible to the public the pecuniary benefits which they granted in the previous year to professionals (primarily physicians and pharmacists) as well as healthcare organizations (in particular hospitals and research institutes).

Which benefits are disclosed?
The term pecuniary benefits as defined by the PCC means remuneration granted either directly or indirectly in connection with pharmaceuticals for human medicine available on prescription only. The disclosure includes payments made e.g. for consultancy and the provision of services, financial support for research and development in the healthcare sector and cost contributions for the attendance of professionals at events.

There are few exceptions from the obligation to disclose pecuniary benefits, e.g.:

normal commercial compensation for professionals when pharmaceuticals are ordered and delivered as well as cooperations in connection with the assumption of logistics costs
delivery of pharmaceutical samples without payment to professionals within the limits of the official recommendations
information and training materials of modest value
payment for meals (including beverages)

How is disclosure effected?
To achieve a high degree of transparency, disclosure should take place individually, i.e. naming the recipients in person. This requires the consent of the persons or organizations concerned to such disclosure. For this purpose, the cooperation agreements between the companies and these professional persons and organizations must include a consent clause. If a person or organisation refuses to give consent, the names of payment recipients may not be disclosed.

Disclosure of cooperation payments in 2025

The signatory companies to the PCC disclosed the following total cooperation payments for 2024:

- CHF 8.1 million to healthcare professionals
- CHF 140.6 million to healthcare organisations
- CHF 109.0 million for research & development
- Around CHF 257.6 million in total

For historical reasons, cooperation grants to patient organisations are disclosed separately. In 2024, these amounted to just under CHF 7.5 million.

Cooperation payments to healthcare professionals remained virtually unchanged in 2024 compared with the previous year. This suggests that the downward trend has come to a halt for the time being.

Cooperation grants to healthcare organisations rose again, to CHF 140.6 million. Payments for research & development increased by around CHF 3 million last year to a total of just under CHF 109 million, which is a smaller increase than in other years. These contributions vary considerably from year to year at the individual companies, which can be explained by fluctuating levels of activity, particulary in the area of clinical research.

Below, the key figures are listed pertaining to the disclosure of cooperation payments in Switzerland for the individual signatory companies of the PCC over the last three years:

The proportion of grants disclosed under individual naming of recipients remained virtually unchanged. On average, the consent rate among professionals was 94.6% (median 100%). It should be noted that two companies achieved significantly lower consent rates: if these are excluded from the calculation of the average value, the consent rate is 97%. This development is in line with the industry's goal of continuously increasing transparency in this area of cooperation. More than half of the disclosing companies once again achieved complete individual transparency. The consent rate among professional organisations increased slightly and now averages 98.4%. The median was again 100%: with the exception of six companies, all PCC signatory companies reported consent rates of 100% in their cooperation with organisations. These averages were calculated on the basis of the individually disclosed number of recipients in relation to the total number of recipients. If the consent rates are based on the disclosed totals, they are almost identical for healthcare professionals (94.3%) and slightly higher for healthcare organisations (98.9%).

The following companies achieved consent rates of less than 80% for healthcare professionals :

- Almirall
- Grünenthal
- Theramex

It should be noted that the vast majority of companies have maintained their individual disclosure rates at a high level or have been able to improve them further, which is gratifying in view of the effort involved. Only a few companies achieved consent rates of less than 80% in relation to healthcare professionals. The Code Secretariat is reaching out on an individual basis to the listed companies to support them in raising their consent rates and thus further strengthening the positive development of the transparency initiative since its inception.

Further information on the subject: