Drug company lobbyists were hosted at a special dinner by Labour leader Andrew Little, months before Labour announced its stance to override Pharmac and fund melanoma drug Keytruda.
Labour confirmed the dinner took place, understood to have been in Labour's parliamentary offices, in September.
Organised by Pharma lobbying group Medicines NZ, the dinner also included representatives from Keytruda makers Merck Sharp and Dohme, Pfizer, Roche, Healthcare Logistics and Sanofi.
Little said he recalled a dinner, but was unsure of the timing.
Labour's bid to emulate National and second-guess Pharmac's cost-benefit analysis of which drugs to fund was looking pretty dubious already. Now it just looks like corporate shilling. And that's why you should never meet with the pharmaceutical industry under any circumstances: because they're tainted, and they taint you by association.