Australian drugmakers ethics code

The pharmaceutical industry trade body Medicines Australia has published its Code of Conduct Annual Report, which documents all determinations made by the independent Code of Conduct Committee during 2007-08.

The report includes the outcomes of the 52 complaints arising from the 14,633 educational events that made up the first evaluation, published in March this year. Of those 52, the Code of Conduct Committee found only 21 to be in breach of the Code - a compliance rate of 99.8%. In addition to the complaints arising from the educational events report, the Annual Report lists 24 finalized complaints that were referred through other channels. In 2006/07, a total of 38 were finalized.

Medicines Australia chief executive Ian Chalmers said the Code of Conduct Annual Report showed that, overwhelmingly, member companies are committed to a very high ethical standard of corporate behavior.