Advertising promotion complaints

The ABPI is the trade association that represents the manufacturers of prescription medicines. Formed in 1930, it now represents some 80 companies, which produce over 80% of the medicines supplied to the National Health Service (NHS). The ABPI has had a code of practice since 1958, the Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry, which governs the promotion of medicines to health professionals, and has operated a system whereby complaints made about the advertising of prescription medicines are taken up and considered under the Code. It is a condition of membership of the ABPI to abide by the Code of Practice. In addition, some 70 companies that are not members of the ABPI have given their formal agreement to abide by the Code and to accept the jurisdiction of the PMCPA over complaints made under the Code. Thus, the Code... 

The Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry is administered by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority. The Authority is responsible for the provision of advice, guidance and training on the Code of Practice as well as for the complaints procedure. It is also responsible for arranging for conciliation between companies when requested to do so and for scrutinising journal advertising on a regular basis. Complaints made under the Code about promotional material or the promotional activities of companies are considered by the Code of Practice Panel and, where required, by the Code of Practice Appeal Board. Reports on cases are published quarterly by the Authority and are available on request. 

The PAGE has also drawn up a Code of Practice for Advertising OTC Medicines to hecilth professionals and the retail trade this code applies to advertising cind promotion of the medical benefits of OTC medicines to health professioncds and the retail trade. In the event of a complaint, a Complaints Committee established by the PAGE will determine the matter, cind its decision published. 

The WHO does not deal with complaints about unethical promotion or advertising. 

On a day-to-day basis, it is the more informal measures that ensure compliance with the rules, in relation to the promotion and advertising of medicines. These measures are via either the Complaints Resolution Panel (CRP), established by the TG Regulations, or the Medicines Australia Code of... 

Figure 17. Pharmaceutical companies regularly promoted tranquilizers for female patients in the pages of the Journal of Occupational Medicine, often explicitly or implicitly suggesting that menstruation was at the root of women s complaints. In this 1965 advertisement, doctors are informed that they cannot trust what their female patients report because few will confess the true menstrual nature of their complaint. Notably, such advertisements often portrayed patients as white women in middle-class dress, invoking the tensions that emerged as middle-class women left the home for the workplace. At the same time, the racing and classing of this figure suggests that this medication was marketed for prescription to office workers.

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