Advert - Stirling Anglian

For making unacceptable payments to health professionals to attend a meeting that promoted CosmoCol (macrogol plus electrolytes) and theiCal-D3 (calcium carbonate and colecalciferol), and thus was not a genuine advisory board, Stirling Anglian was ruled in breach of the following clauses of the Code:

Clause 2 - Bringing discredit upon, and reducing confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry.

Clause 9.1 - Failing to maintain high standards.

Clause 18.1 - Paying health professionals to attend a promotional meeting.

Clause 21 - Issuing a contract that amounted to an inducement to prescribe.

Clause 22.1 - Providing inappropriate hospitality.

Clause 22.2 - Providing hospitality that exceeded local cost limit.

Clause 23.1 - Engaging health professionals in other than genuine consultancy arrangements.

The Code of Practice Panel reported Stirling Anglian to the Code of Practice Appeal Board. The Appeal Board was concerned that UK health professionals had attended the meeting on the understanding that it was an advisory board and had been paid to do so. This was unacceptable. The Appeal Board decided to require Stirling Anglian to issue a corrective statement to all the UK attendees at the meeting.

The interim case report and the wording of the corrective statement are available at www.pmcpa.org.uk.

Advert - August 2016