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The first round of disclosures would likely be made in 2019, allowing industry time to gather and disseminate the data, she said.

I think it had a huge role to play in the genesis of the opioid crisis

One company – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – helped convince several other drug firms in Canada to voluntarily adopt a limited version of the idea earlier this year, releasing total amounts of payments without naming individuals. It applauded the province’s decision to go a step further.

“We need those co-operations between the nurses, the doctors, the health-care organizations to be able to get to the patients and meet their needs,” said Annie Bourgault, GSK Canada’s ethics & compliance officer. “If we don’t disclose at an individual level, we risk people wondering ‘What’s going on’ … (and) saying ‘Why are they even having those relationships?’ ”

Among a series of studies on the issue, one published last year and based on data from the American “Sunshine Act,” found that even doctors who received a single meal valued at less than $20 from a pharmaceutical manufacturer were more likely to prescribe the drug being promoted.

The issue has come to the fore recently amid the opioid addiction and overdose epidemic, which many experts trace in part to the industry-funded specialists who encouraged general practitioners several years ago to more freely prescribe narcotic painkillers.

“I think it had a huge role to play in the genesis of the opioid crisis,” said Juurlink.

Specialists who were paid in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars “told us things about opioids that were simply untrue … based on anecdotes and wishful thinking.”

Had the extent of their financial ties been more apparent, the impact of that advice might have been much less, Juurlink said.

But the GSK’s Bourgault said the money that passes hands to compensate for professionals’ time should not affect how they do their job.

• Email: tblackwell@nationalpost.com | Twitter: tomblackwellNP