UPDATE: MSD suspended from ABPI for three months, second firm hit by new code

Following last week's report (Marketletter October 2) that Merck Sharp & Dohme, the UK subsidary of US-headquartered drug major Merck & Co, had been "admonished," by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the trade association has announced the drugmaker's suspension for at least three months.

The decision was taken by the ABPI's Board of Management, following a seperate complaint from the one outlined in previous reporting. In the new incident, a former MSD sales representative complained to the ABPI's code of practice watchdog, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, about the process by which a nurse audit disease management program was offered by the drugmaker to general practitioners. This meant that nurses were funded to screen for blood pressure problems, but the program targeted 219 doctors' surgeries that were identified as prescribing Merck's antihypertensive drug Cozaar (losartan).

"Totally unacceptable" arrangements led to MSD suspension