A number of charities that have criticised decisions made by the NHS watchdog the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to deny patients access to expensive drugs have been funded by pharmaceutical companies.

A report by The Independent said that the National Kidney Federation, Beating Bowel Cancer, The Arthritis and Musculo-Skeletal Alliance, The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, The Alzheimer’s Society and the Royal National Institute for the Blind had all received six figure sums from pharmaceutical companies in 2007.