Healthy Skepticism Library item: 5882

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

Code condition could be overturned
Pharma in Focus (Australia) 2006 Aug 16
http://www.pharmainfocus.com.au/news.asp?newsid=1297

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s Comments:

“ Medicines Australia has lodged an appeal with the Australian Competition
Tribunal that could overturn the controversial meetings reporting
condition imposed by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission
(ACCC) when it re-authorised the code last month.”

This is strangely at odds with the claim made by the very same Medicines Australia Chairman, Mr John Young, only four days earlier in a newspaper article he wrote when he claimed-

“MEDICINE companies in Australia do not fear scrutiny, nor do we fear
criticism or accountability.”
see-
HSL6445
Young J.
Hysteria rules doctor and drug company relationship debate
The Australian Newspaper 2006 Aug 12
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20086019-23289,00.html

It seems Medicines Australia has one face for the public and a different face for the ACCC.

Full text:

Medicines Australia has lodged an appeal with the Australian Competition
Tribunal that could overturn the controversial meetings reporting
condition imposed by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission
(ACCC) when it re-authorised the code last month.

“We have advised the ACCC of our decision to appeal the condition but we
have also communicated our strong desire to work together so future
versions of the Code take on board the ACCC’s comments to ensure the
Code continues to reflect an appropriate ethical framework defining how
our industry interacts with healthcare professionals,” MA Chairman John
Young said.

The appeal will be heard by a Federal Court judge who could overrule the
decision to require detailed public reporting of every pharmaceutical
company sponsored meeting in Australia.

An MA spokesperson said the decision to appeal was made following
“extensive consultation” with members who said they regarded the
condition as excessively onerous and were unwilling to accept it without
challenge.

The condition binds companies to 12-month monitoring and six monthly
reporting of venue, cost, attendance, hospitality, accommodation and
fees provided in association with every pharmaco-sponsored meeting,
right down to local GP meetings.

MA said it was concerned that the condition would create a layer of
ineffective red tape for small, medium and large companies that goes
well beyond current monitoring measures, and has no precedent for other
industries in Australia or the pharmaceutical industry globally.

MA said it expected the appeal to take around six months and that the
current edition of the code (edition 14) would remain in force until it
was complete.

An ACCC spokesperson said the commission understood MA was also
appealing the length of the authorisation. The peak body had originally
sought five years but was only granted three. The ACCC had no comment on
the appeal itself, the spokesperson said.