Drug company gave gifts

Press, 22 December 1986, Page 22

Drug company gave gifts

By

HUGH BARLOW

NZPA staff correspondent London The German drug company, Beyer U.K., has been suspended from the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry because of giving gifts to doctors. The “Guardian” reported that Beyer gave doctors money and gifts to conduct bogus trials with a heart drug. The trials had no medical purpose and were designed solely as a marketing ploy to boost sales of the drug, the newspaper said. The A.8.P.1., a watchdog and lobbying organisation to which all the main drug companies belong, said Beyer U.K. was the first company suspended for breaching a voluntary code of conduct. Previously “punishment” had been no worse than a rebuke published in a trade journal.

The A.8.P.1. ruled that Beyer’s promotion activities had brought discredit on the pharmaceutical industry, although acknowleding that the company had taken steps to eliminate the .marketing practices which were the cause of the complaint. The suspension was indefinite and would not be reviewed before July, 1987.

The suspension is effectively a public censure. Beyer will be excluded from the association’s normal activities and com-

munications but will carry on business as usual. A spokesman for Beyer said the association’s decision was extremely harsh given the company’s own decision to clean up its activities. The British Medical Association welcomed the decision and reiterated that doctors who accepted inducements could be disciplined.