Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14944

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Medew J.
Get tough push on drug firms
The Age (Melbourne) 2009 Jan 22
http://www.theage.com.au/national/get-tough-push-on-drug-firms-20090121-7mru.html?page=-1

Full text:

THOUSANDS of doctors have called for tougher rules governing the interaction between drug companies and health professionals amid claims “big pharma” is crossing more ethical boundaries to increase sales.

- Doctors call for tougher rules – ‘Big pharma’ strategy concern – Groups demand bigger fines

Submissions to a review of Medicines Australia’s code of conduct reveal deep concern among health professionals about new promotional strategies, and some groups are calling for fines of up to $1.1 million instead of the existing limit of $200,000 for those who breach the code.

A submission by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, which represents more than 25,000 doctors, calls for Medicines Australia to investigate growing sponsorship of small group activities inside clinics, which operate “under the guise of ongoing professional development”.

It says the meetings should be monitored “to ensure that practice data is not provided to pharmaceutical companies or that pharmacological approaches to treatment are not overemphasised”.

The concern comes after Melbourne oncologist Dr Ian Haines revealed in November that drug companies were paying undisclosed honorariums to doctors to have their sales representatives sit in on patient consultations in at least one teaching hospital in Melbourne.

The college said it was also concerned about a trend among drug companies of providing “substantial” funding to disease-specific consumer groups, which often appeared to promote or overemphasise pharmacological treatments.

“The RACGP is concerned that undue control may be exercised by some pharmaceutical companies on some disease-specific groups through funding support,” the submission said.

“The development of any public or clinical campaign must be based on the evidence of best-practice care.”

It also called for advertising to be removed from clinical prescribing software and for promotional letters to be banned, with the exception of recall notices and Medicines Australia statements.

The college was one of several groups to call for increased fines for breaches of the code, including Choice, a consumer group that said a limit of $1.1 million would bring penalties into line with the maximum fine for a company under most consumer protection provisions of the Trade Practices Act.

But La Trobe University academic Dr Ken Harvey said the code was in need of radical change. He said all members of the therapeutic goods industry, including complementary medicine and medical device companies, should be covered by a code of conduct that was overseen by government, funded by industry and administered by an independent committee representative of all stakeholders.

This uniformity would mean one set of sanctions, including corrective advertising orders and fines related to the sales income of the product and company involved, he said.

The closing date for submissions is February 28.