Stiefel and Ferring named in advertisements for breaches of the ABPI Code of Practice

Stiefel Laboratories Ltd (recently acquired by UK drug giant GlaxoSmithKline in a $2.9 billion buyout) and Ferring Pharmaceuticals Ltd have breached The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry. To highlight these breaches, both are the subjects of advertisements in the medical, pharmaceutical and nursing press.

Stiefel was ruled in breach of the Code for presenting the output of a company run meeting as an independent supplement to a medical journal. Stiefel was ruled in breach of the following clause of the Code, Clause 2, bringing discredit upon and reducing confidence in the pharmaceutical industry.

Ferring breached the Code through the actions of its public relations agency which sent unapproved copy about a prescription-only medicine to a patient organization for publication on its web site. Ferring was ruled in breach of the following clauses of the Code. Clause 2, bringing discredit upon and reducing confidence in the pharmaceutical industry; Clause 9.1, failing to maintain high standards; Clause 14.3, failing to certify information provided to a patient organisation; Clause 22.2, encouraging members of the public to ask their health professional to prescribe a specific prescription only medicine; and Clause 23.6, influencing the text of patient organization material in a manner favorable to a company's commercial interests.