Slippery slope for patient advocates

As patient advocacy groups have proliferated, the intensified competition for funding has led some patient organizations to aggressively solicit funding from drug companies, sometimes using offers of special access to members or other inducements to gain support.

The inducements for financial contributions are raising worries in the advocacy community about the ability of the non-profit organizations to appear independent and credible in the eyes of patients, the public and the government bodies they are trying to influence...