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ISSUE 6 DECEMBER
Feature

Medicines Australia Code of Conduct: breaches

The Medicines Australia Code of Conduct guides the promotion of prescription products by pharmaceutical companies.1 Each year Medicines Australia publishes a report, from its Code of Conduct Committee, which details all the complaints that have been received about advertising and other promotional activities.

The Table shows the complaints where at least one breach was identified, and more details can be found in the full report.

Table - Breaches of the Code of Conduct July 2013 – June 2014

 

Company

Brand (generic) name

Material or activity

Sanction

AstraZeneca

Brilinta (ticagrelor)

Promotional material

$10 000 fine

Boehringer Ingelheim

Micardis, Twynsta (telmisartan, telmisartan with amlodipine)

Misleading promotional materials

$50 000 fine

Eli Lilly Australia

Axiron (testosterone)

Promotion to the public

$250 000 fine
Corrective letter

FIT BioCeuticals

D50K (unregistered drug)

Promotion to the public on a website

$150 000 fine reduced on appeal to $25 000
Changes to website
Compliance audit of all promotional activities

Novartis

Lucentis (ranibizumab)

Email to ophthalmologists

$250 000 fine
Materials not to be used again
Corrective letter

Roche

Actemra (tocilizumab)

Unapproved products and indications

$15 000 fine
Materials not to be used again
 

References

  1. Code of Conduct. 17th ed. 2012. http://medicinesaustralia.com.au/files/2010/01/20130328-PUB-Edition17-FINAL.pdf .
  2. Code of Conduct Annual Report 2013\u201314. http://medicinesaustralia.com.au/files/2014/02/20141107-PUB-CoC-AnnualReport-2013_2014.pdf .