HAI Slams IFPMA Pharma Marketing Code

Health Action International has said that the new marketing Code, due to be published this month by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Associations (reviewed in the Marketletter September 12 following its presentation at the IFPMA's General Assembly in Malmo, Sweden) "will not prevent companies promoting medicines unethically because it lacks mechanisms for effective enforcement."

IFPMA's original Code, which was developed in 1981, was also slammed by the HAI, which at the time said it was worthless and was not taken seriously. It also claims that, based on reports in industry journal Scrip between 1992 and 1994, it would appear that even pharmaceutical companies do not take the Code seriously. The HAI says the new code "lacks teeth," and its weakness remains even after the latest revisions. The new Code, according to the HAI, has no effective sanctions, no corrective measures and does not provide either for monitoring or independent review. However, it admits that the new Code does contain improved wording and some acknowledgement that a wide range of promotional practices - including the use of audio-visual material, advertorials and the conduct of sales representatives - needs more control. But "without enforcement mechanisms, the improvements in wording are meaningless," says HAI-Europe coordinator Catherine Hodgkin.

IFPMA vice president for scientific affairs Margaret Cone told the Marketletter that the association finds "the HAI attitude disappointingly (if predictably) negative and unconstructive," and pointed out that the HAI did not have the courtesy to send a copy of its press release on the matter directly to the IFPMA.