E-DRUG: Enforcement of Pharmaceutical Marketing Codes

Dear E-druggers,

This is an abstract of an article by me entitled Enforcement of Codes
Governing Pharmaceutical Promotion: What Happens When Companies Breach
Advertising Guidelines?. It appears in the February 1st issue of the
Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Some or all of the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies
are typically governed through self-regulatory codes administered by
industry associations. However, the conflicts between the commercial
objectives and the ethical and scientific goals of promotion can
potentially lead to serious weaknesses in the way in which these
codes are enforced. This paper focuses on 5 critical aspects involved
in the enforcement of codes governing pharmaceutical promotion:
- mechanisms for recognizing violations,
- composition of monitoring committees,
- sanctions for code violations,
- the quantity and quality of information in reports issued about
complaints and code violations, and
- the circulation these reports receive.

The Code of Marketing Practices of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
Association of Canada (PMAC) has serious weaknesses in all of
these areas. Although the Pharmaceutical Advertising
Advisory Board's Code of Advertising Acceptance avoids many of the
deficiencies of the PMAC code, it, too, has weaknesses.
Proposals for strengthening the enforcement of both codes are offered.

Joel Lexchin MD
121 Walmer Rd.
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA M5R 2X8
Phone: (416)-964-7186
Fax: (416)-923-9515

email: joel.lexchin@utoronto.ca

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