Roche cleared over rep conduct complaint

pharmafile | September 23, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing ABPI Code of Practice, Roche 

Roche has been cleared by Code regulator the PMCPA of any wrongdoing after an NHS employee complained about the promotion of hepatitis C drug Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a).

Of particular concern to the complainant was that a Roche representative was married to the nurse specialist they believed to be responsible for choosing the treatment for hepatitis C in a large teaching hospital.

This rep received a cash bonus and a trip to the Caribbean – on which he took his wife – due to Pegasys’ sales performance, and the rep’s wife also received speaker fees from Roche.

But the PMCPA noted there would always be cases when a rep was married to a health professional, that the wife in this case did not influence patient medication, and that both had declared potential conflicts of interest to their respective employers.

Advertisement

While reminding companies that they should be aware of how their actions were perceived from outside, it said there was no evidence to show that the rep or Roche had breached the ABPI’s Code of Practice in any way.

Adam Hill

Related Content

alzheimers_brain

Roche receives CE Mark for blood test to help rule out Alzheimer’s

Roche has been granted CE Mark approval for its Elecsys pTau181 test, the first in …

blood_test

Roche candidate shows early promise for treating haemophilia A

Roche has announced encouraging early results from its phase 1/2 trial of NXT007, an investigational …

Roche advances treatment for Parkinson’s disease

Swiss biopharma, Roche, has announced its decision to proceed with phase 3 trials of prasinezumab, …

The Gateway to Local Adoption Series

Latest content