Healthy Skepticism Library item: 5805

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

MA canvasses companies on Code
Pharma in Focus (Australia) 2006 Aug 7
http://www.pharmainfocus.com.au/news.asp?newsid=1265

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s Comments:

“If doctors do not learn about new life-saving and health-enhancing
drugs through the seminars put on by the pharmaceutical companies then
the patients will not be prescribed the best possible drug for their
condition – it’s as simple as that,” President Dr Mukesh Haikerwal said.

Once again, Dr Haikerwal has got it totally wrong, thereby inadvertently creating the impression that he is a puppet of Big Pharma.

It would have been more accurate if he had said-

“If doctors do not acquire distorted and misleading information about new
drugs, often of dubious merit and excessive expense, through the seminars put on by the pharmaceutical companies then
the patients will not be prescribed the worst possible drug for their
condition – it’s as simple as that,”

Full text:

The board of Medicines Australia (MA) has resolved to consult all member
companies before responding to the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission’s (ACCC) conditional re-authorisation of the industry Code of
Conduct.

At its meeting last Tuesday, the board had decided to “go out to all our
member companies” a spokesperson said. There was no indication as to how
long MA expected the consultation to take.

The ACCC re-authorised the code for three years on July 26 but told MA
the authorisation was dependent on accepting a requirement for detailed
public reporting on company-sponsored meetings and seminars for
healthcare professionals.

Companies must keep precise records of every such meeting no matter what
its size and MA must publish this information in full on its website
every six months with no more than a three month lag, the condition says.

The reporting will reveal the venue, the type and nature of the
function, the professional status of attendees, what hospitality was
provided including specific types of meals and accommodation and whether
alcohol was made available, the total cost per head, the number of
attendees and total cost of the occasion including any speakers fees for
each meeting.

Industry insiders say company reaction to the ACCC’s move has been
hostile but MA has been cautious in its public response so far. Although
the peak body has questioned the process surrounding the imposition of
the new condition, it has not rejected it.

The AMA has expressed concerns that the reporting condition has
potential to affect legitimate medical education.

“If doctors do not learn about new life-saving and health-enhancing
drugs through the seminars put on by the pharmaceutical companies then
the patients will not be prescribed the best possible drug for their
condition – it’s as simple as that,” President Dr Mukesh Haikerwal said.

While the amount spent by industry on educational meetings is not
recorded, estimates by medical education agencies contacted by Pharma in
Focus put the cost of a national program of GP workshops at around
$400,000 to $500,000 in total with around half of that going towards
venue hire, hospitality and related expenses.

An educational weekend for specialists including venue hire and meals
could cost around the same.

In a recent article in GP weekly Australian Dr, GP David Smith wrote he
had received 75 invitations to continuing professional development
functions in a recent 12 month period, 64 of which were sponsored by
pharma companies.

Peter Hobbins, Creative Director at Elixir Healthcare Education said
events were becoming a major part of advertising and promotional budgets
for big pharmacos, especially for specialist products where there was
little opportunity for advertising spend.

“Events are taking a much more prominent place in marketing budgets
especially because of the squeeze on rep time with doctors,” he said.
“They are a way of being highly visible and showing support for the area
you are in.”

However, Mr Hobbins said that although the new reporting requirements
imposed on MA by the ACCC would increase cost, he doubted they would
cause companies to rein in educational activity to any extent.

“I can’t imagine it would put them off. It just means spending more
money on coordinating the required information.”