ABPI Code Reports "Will Name Names"

The UK Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, which operates the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's Code of Practice, has announced that reports on complaints received on and after January 1, 1996, will name the company and medicine involved, regardless of whether or not a breach of the Code is ruled.

Until now, reports have named the company against which the complaint had been made and the medicine involved, but only if a breach of the Code had been ruled. Where no breach had been ruled, the identity of the company and of the product have been kept confidential, often resulting in reports which were uninformative and obscure, and thus of little educational value, says the Review.

The Authority says that it welcomes "this move to total transparency," which it believes will be in the industry's interest, and will avoid the perception that the reason for confidentiality in no-breach cases was because there was something to hide, which it says was not the case.