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Friday, December 17th, 2004
A major consultation exercise is at the core of a review of the
ABPI Code of Practice, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical
Industry (ABPI) announced today.
The ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry covers
all forms of the promotion of prescription medicines to healthcare
professionals in the UK as well as the provision of information
to the public by pharmaceutical companies. It aims to safeguard
the interests of patients and to ensure a responsible and ethical
approach to such activities.
An independent market research company will be approaching a number
of organisations on behalf of the ABPI to ascertain their views
on the code and how it can be improved as part of the review, which
was announced earlier in the year.
The organisations range from regulators such as the Medicines and
Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Advertising Standards
Authority; to professional bodies, including royal colleges; consumer
bodies; patient advocacy groups; trade bodies; and other groups
such as the BMJ and the Lancet, and the King's Fund. Several other
organisations will be formally notified of the consultation so that
they can make their views known.
More generally, any individual or organisation with comments or
suggestions about the ABPI Code of Practice is invited to send their
comments to the ABPI.
"Since the last review of the ABPI Code of Practice in 1992,
there have been considerable changes in the NHS, including increased
patient involvement in the decision-making process," said Andrew
Hotchkiss, the ABPI Board member and Managing Director of Lilly
UK, who is in charge of the project.
"The pharmaceutical industry takes self-regulation extremely
seriously indeed, and is determined to ensure that its relationships
with healthcare professionals and others are conducted to the highest
possible ethical standards.
"Through this wide-ranging consultation exercise, we shall
be able to take into account the opinions and experience of a large
number of organisations and individuals from a variety of different
standpoints. This will be invaluable in determining exactly what
provisions the new code should contain."
The review will cover all aspects of the code, including recommendations
for changes and additions to its clauses, the effectiveness of sanctions,
and the practices and processes of other self-regulatory bodies.
The formal consultation process will last for three months, until
March 11, 2005. After that, results will be collated and considered,
with the aim of publishing the new code before the end of 2005.
The ABPI Code of Practice currently has 22 clauses. With full details
of all cases examined by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice
Authority, which administers the code, made public, it is one of
the world's most transparent.
Established in 1958, it is one of the oldest in a global context
in the pharmaceutical sector. The last major review of the code
was in 1992, but there have been updates since then - for example,
expanding the code to cover company websites.
Details of the review are available at the ABPI's website, www.abpi.org.uk
and submissions for consideration under the review can be made
by letter to the ABPI, 12 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY or by email
to abpicode@abpi.org.uk
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