Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14863

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: Journal Article

Dobson R.
Eli Lilly encouraged patients to ask for a prescription only drug, says industry watchdog
BMJ 2008 Dec 2; 337:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/337/dec02_4/a2824

Abstract:

The drug company Eli Lilly has been found to have breached the UK industry’s code of practice by encouraging patients to ask for a prescription only drug.

The company, maker of tadalafil (marketed as Cialis), has been ruled to be in breach of the code of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, including bringing discredit on and reducing confidence in the industry and failing to maintain high standards.

The ruling says that Eli Lilly breached the code by encouraging patients, through a chart and action plan on a website and a leaflet, to ask their doctor for a specific prescription only drug.

One page of the website contained a table that listed the treatment types available for erectile dysfunction, says the ruling.

The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, which was set up to operate the code of practice, said, “‘Product 1’ in the list was clearly Cialis.