Solvay reprimanded for cheques to GPs
pharmafile | April 7, 2010 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Code of Practice, PMCPA, Solvay
Three UK pharma companies have been ‘named and shamed’ for serious breaches of the ABPI’s Code of Practice.
Solvay, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble will now be named in advertisements in the medical, pharmaceutical and nursing press, with Solvay further censured with a public reprimand.
Industry watchdog the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority has taken a stricter approach to rule breaking in recent years, but a public reprimand remains rare, illustrating the seriousness of the Solvay case.
Solvay was found to have made some very serious misdemeanours in the promotion of its cholesterol treatment Omacor.
The case arose from a complaint brought by the assistant medical director of a PCT, who claimed Solvay had induced a GP to prescribe Omacor to patients with no clinical justification.
The company approached one GP practice with the offer of paying for a nurse to audit patients at risk of cardiovascular disease.
This in itself was not found to breach the rules, but the audit nurse was found to have automatically suggested patients be prescribed Omacor without good clinical reasons.
In addition, the Solvay sales rep gave cheques directly to the GP on four separate occasions to pay for the audit. The ABPI Panel reviewing the case said this method of payment gave a ‘bad impression’, and ruled it a breach of clause 2 of the Code, bringing ‘discredit upon and reducing confidence’ in the pharma industry.
After identifying ‘suitable’ patients, the nurse put Omacor on repeat prescriptions for each patient, counter-signed by the GP. The ABPI panel ruled there was no clear medical justification for the prescribing, and that there was no evidence the nurse was suitably experienced to make this decision.
Both the GP and the nurse were given approximately £1,700 each for the audit. The PMCPA Panel said that the ‘vague’ arrangements which existed were ‘wholly unacceptable’ – Solvay had no way of ensuring that their grant would be used for the appropriate purposes and therefore could exist as an ‘inducement to prescribe’, breaching clause 18.1 of the ABPI Code.
Pfizer and Procter & Gamble
Pfizer and Procter & Gamble have also come under the PMCPA’s spotlight. Pfizer has be rapped for making unsubstantiated claims about its smoking cessation drug Champix by using ‘misleading graphs, data and comparisons’, all of which breached the ABPI’s Code.
Procter & Gamble voluntarily admitted a breach, relating to the use of a brochure containing material previously ruled in breach of the code.
All three companies were guilty of breaching clause 2, reducing confidence in the pharma industry, and the negative highlighting of each failing has proved a source of embarrassment for each company.
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