Perspectives on the Influence of Pharmaceutical and MedTech Companies on Deprescribing Decisions and Conference Sponsorship: A Survey Study.

Background The involvement and sponsorship of pharmaceutical and medical technology (MedTech) companies in deprescribing and medication optimization activities raise questions about conflicts of interest. We surveyed registrants and attendees of previous International Conferences on Deprescribing to explore views on the acceptability and impact of such involvement and sponsorship.Methods We conducted two unlinked, anonymous cross-sectional surveys among all participants of the 2022 and 2024 International Conferences on Deprescribing (376 unique email addresses). The first survey addressed pharmaceutical companies; the second focused on MedTech. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively. Free-text responses were analysed thematically.Findings The response rate was 33% (n = 116/355) for the pharmaceutical survey and 20% (n = 68/335) for the MedTech survey. Trust in deprescribing information was low for pharmaceutical companies, with 52% reporting distrust (n = 47/91). Trust was somewhat higher for MedTech companies, with 27% expressing distrust (n = 14/52). Forty-eight percent (n = 42/87) said they would be less likely to attend an international deprescribing conference with pharmaceutical sponsorship versus 26% (n = 13/49) for MedTech. Among clinicians and clinician-scientists who completed the survey, 27% (n = 18/67) said pharmaceutical companies, and 27% (n = 10/37) said MedTech companies, somewhat or very much influence their deprescribing decisions.Conclusions Despite broad scepticism about private-sector involvement and sponsorship of deprescribing activities, views varied.We surveyed clinicians and researchers who attended or registered for two international conferences about safely reducing or stopping medications (deprescribing). We collected their views on drug and medical technology company (MedTech) involvement and sponsorship of future related events. We sent two short surveys that were not linked. The first survey explored views about drug company sponsorship and had a response rate of 33%. The second survey explored views about MedTech sponsorship and had a response rate of 27%. Most people were sceptical about sponsorship from either source but trusted MedTech companies a bit more than drug companies.