Make a complaint

Complaints should be submitted using the form below.

Where the form is unable to be used, complaints may be submitted by email to complaints@pmcpa.org.uk or by post to: Chief Executive, Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, 2nd Floor Goldings House, Hay’s Galleria, 2 Hay’s Lane, London, SE1 2HB.

For informal advice, please email info@pmcpa.org.uk.

Have you come to the right place with your complaint?

We receive a number of complaints that do not fall within the scope of the ABPI Code of Practice and therefore are not within the PMCPA’s jurisdiction. Before submitting your complaint, please ensure that it relates to:

• a pharmaceutical company and

• a prescription only medicine (or an advertisement designed to encourage the prescription of a medicine) and

• the UK (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man).

If you are an employee of the pharmaceutical company you wish to complain about, you may first wish to consult your company’s whistleblowing policy. You are encouraged to try to resolve your complaint through the appropriate company channels before submitting a formal complaint to the PMCPA.

If you are a pharmaceutical company making a complaint about another pharmaceutical company, please ensure that you have tried to resolve the issue through intercompany dialogue before making a complaint to the PMCPA.

Other complainants are encouraged to consider contacting the pharmaceutical company to see whether your concerns can be resolved directly before making a complaint to the PMCPA. Consider whether the issue could more quickly be resolved by bringing the issue to the attention of the company and requesting that the company take immediate action rather than submitting a complaint to the PMCPA, which may take some months to be ruled upon.

Help us to deal with your complaint effectively

All parties, including the complainant and respondent, must take all reasonable steps to assist the PMCPA and the Appeal Board to further the overriding objective of the PMCPA’s Constitution and Procedure – to ensure that cases are dealt with fairly and justly while protecting patient safety.

The PMCPA is not an investigatory body. All complaints are judged on the evidence provided by the parties. The complainant has burden of proving their complaint on the balance of probabilities. Please provide as much information as possible – providing evidence to support your allegations. Please provide screenshots or other attachments, if relevant.

Please respond promptly. You will be contacted at various points during the process of dealing with your complaint. Please ensure that the email address you provide is one that is monitored regularly. Private and confidential information will be sent to that email address.

Confidentiality and anonymity

The PMCPA accepts anonymous complaints; however, complainants are strongly encouraged to provide contact details so that they can participate fully in the process, and relevant information about their interests in the matter of complaint.

The PMCPA keeps the names of complainants from outside the pharmaceutical industry confidential. In exceptional circumstances it may be necessary for a company to know the identity of the complainant so that the matter can be properly investigated. In these circumstances, your name will only be disclosed to the company with your permission.

We will only use your email address in relation to your complaint, and it will not be disclosed to the company. If you provide the PMCPA with an email address, you will receive details of the Code of Practice Panel’s ruling to that email address, you will have the opportunity to participate in the appeal process (if relevant), and you will receive the proposed text of the case report before it is published.

If you choose not to provide any contact details, you will be unable to participate in the process fully. If you decide not to provide an email address, we will have no way of contacting you. We will be unable to ask you for further information, if needed, which could mean that it is not possible for your complaint to proceed. If the Panel rules no breach of the Code, the case will be closed – you will have means of appeal and will not have the opportunity to see the proposed text of the case report before it is published.

We ask you to provide information about any commercial, financial or other interest you have in the matter of complaint or in the company concerned or in a competitor company. Such interest might include being an employee, ex-employee of the company concerned or working for a competitor. Such interests will be disclosed to the respondent company and will normally be included in the published case report. Complainants are expected to provide accurate and complete information about their interests. This helps to ensure a fair and transparent process for all parties involved. Company personnel should not try to circumvent the requirements of intercompany dialogue by making complaints in a personal capacity.