Revised ABPI Code, Constitution and Procedure take effect July 1

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's revised Codeof Practice takes effect July 1, but, till September 30, no promotional material or activity will be held to be breach if it fails to comply only because of the new requirements. The Code's main changes are:

- the exclusion from the Code by Clause 1.1 of factual announcements and price lists etc, which include no product claims, will apply only to licensed medicines; - Clause 3 on promotion at international conferences is revised and augmented. Clause 3.1 supplementary information on advance notification of new products is amended and also now says this must make clear whether the new medicine or the change to an existing medicine is the subject of a marketing authorization in the UK;

- Clause 4.1 now requires prescribing information to be positioned for ease of reference; not, for example, placed diagonally or around page borders. New Clause 4 supplementary information covers the most prominent display of the brand name in ads and electronic journals, and provision of prescribing information on the Internet, including ads in electronic journals.