Anonymous, non-contactable complainant v PharmaMar

Certification and Promotion of Yondelis

Between March and October 2017, the 'British Sarcoma Group 13th Annual Conference, 1st - 2nd March 2017 – Meeting Highlights' newsletter was available. The newsletter mentioned Yondelis (trabectedin) which was marketed by PharmaMar Ltd.

You are being sent this corrective statement because you received or might have received the newsletter.

Following a complaint under the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry, the Code of Practice Panel considered that the newsletter was the responsibility of PharmaMar and it promoted its medicine for an unlicensed use. The document was also disguised promotion and the disguised nature was compounded by the inclusion of the disclaimer that 'This newsletter had been funded by an unrestricted educational grant provided by PharmaMar S.A. PharmaMar S.A. had not been involved in the production review or distribution of this material' which was not an accurate description of the role of the company

The Code of Practice Panel ruled that PharmaMar had failed to maintain high standards and had brought discredit upon and reduced confidence in the pharmaceutical industry. As a result of the above governance concerns, the Panel reported PharmaMar to the Code of Practice Appeal Board which required PharmaMar to issue this corrective statement and to circulate a copy of the published report for the case which contains full details. This is enclosed.

On 9 April 2018, BSG sent the following corrective statement on behalf of PharmaMar to all attendees to the BSG conference and its organisers.