[e-drug] Pfizer reprimanded for promoting unlicensed drugs

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E-drug: Pfizer reprimanded for promoting unlicensed drugs 
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BMJ 2002;324:753 (30 March 2002)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7340/753/a

Pfizer gets a public dressing down over promoting unlicensed drugs 
Paul Dinsdale, London 

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has been given a rare public
reprimand by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
after being found in breach of the industry's code of conduct. 

The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, which
monitors complaints about drug companies, found that Pfizer had
been using a team of medical liaison executives to promote
unlicensed medicines and to promote off-licence indications for
other products. 

In its ruling the authority said that "the arrangements brought
discredit upon, and reduced confidence in, the pharmaceutical
industry." 

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's board of
management decided that it was "a serious matter which
necessitated further action." In addition to the reprimand, contained
in the authority's February 2002 review, the board requested that
the authority carried out an audit of the company's medical liaison
function and that the audit recommendations be implemented by
Pfizer. 

The complaint, although anonymous, was from a group claiming to
be employees of Pfizer, although the authority does not carry out
checks to verify the identity of complainants. 

The complaint was about the team of regionally based medical
liaison executives. Only three of the 16 medical liaison executives
were medically qualified. Although their function was to provide
medical information to doctors and other health professionals, it
was alleged they were canvassing support for Pfizer's products
among doctors, pharmaceutical advisers, formulary committees and
"any member of the NHS who could influence prescribing." 

The complainants said that this was being achieved through sharing
of data on file and, significantly, data that were off-licence. They
also claimed that a specific executive responsibility was to promote
unlicensed products, such as the antipsychotic ziprasidone and
off-licence indications for drugs such as atorvastatin, sildenafil, and
gabapentin. 

The authority said it was concerned that the description of the
medical liaison executives' activities "gave the impression that the
executives were doing more than responding to requests for
information from health professionals and others." 

Pfizer accepted that it had breached the code in respect of failing to
maintain high standards but appealed against the other rulings of
breaches of the code, one of which was successful. 

A spokesperson for Pfizer said: "While we accept the Association of
the British Pharmaceutical Industry ruling, there was never any
intention of breaching the code of practice." 

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