Media criticism -The Daily Telegraph/Director v Stirling Anglian

Arrangements for a meeting

Corrective statement​

On 2/3 July, you attended a meeting organised by Stirling Anglian Pharmaceuticals Ltd, held in Baden-Baden. The meeting was described as an “Advisory Board”.

An article in The Daily Telegraph on 25 July raised concerns about the excessive hospitality provided at the meeting and the matter was taken up by The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority as a complaint under the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry (Case AUTH/2783/7/15). The Code of Practice Panel ruled that the arrangements did not meet the criteria for an advisory board and that UK health professionals had thus been paid to attend a promotional meeting. The Panel also considered that the meeting was an inducement to recommend Stirling Anglian’s medicines and that the hospitality provided was not appropriate, was out of proportion to the occasion and that the costs exceeded the level that recipients would normally adopt if paying for themselves. The Panel considered that Stirlin​g Anglian had failed to uphold high standards and had brought discredit upon, and reduced confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry. The Panel considered that its concerns warranted further consideration and thus reported Stirling Anglian to the Code of Practice Appeal Board. The Appeal Board was extremely concerned that health professionals had attended the meeting on the false understanding that it was a genuine advisory board. The Appeal Board required Stirling Anglian to send you this corrective statement and a copy of the published report for the case which contains full details. This is enclosed.

Stirling Anglian sent copies of the case report and the company's corrective statement to all UK delegates at the meeting. The materials were sent on 16 December 2015.

​Date posted 16 December 2015