Disguised promotion

Market research is mentioned here only to point out that such activity is permissible, must follow certain guidelines and may not be disguised promotion. Indeed, promotional activities of all types may not be disguised as to their true intent. 

Market research activities, post-marketing surveillance studies, clinical assessments and the like must not be disguised promotion. 

Advertisements in journals must not resemble editorial matter. Care must also be taken with company sponsored reports on meeting and the like to ensure that they are not disguised promotion. Sponsorship must be declared in accordance with Clause 9.10. 

Advisory boards must be organised appropriately and their objectives clearly defined or they may be considered as promotion or disguised promotion. The organisation of the advisory board and the rationale for it must be able to withstand independent scrutiny. Figure 4.1 represents the organisation of advisory boards and each area is considered in this chapter. 

The number of advisory boards held should not be so many as to be construed as disguised promotion. 

Promotion should not be disguised. Clinical assessments, post-marketing surveillance and experience programmes, and post-authorisation studies must not be disguised promotion. Such assessments, programmes and studies must be conducted with a primarily scientific or educational purpose. Material relating to pharmaceutical products and their uses, whether or not promotional in nature, that is sponsored by a company should clearly indicate by whom it has been sponsored. 

Clinical assessments, post-marketing surveillance, experience programmes and post-authorisation studies must not constitute a disguised promotion. Such assessments, programmes and studies must be performed mainly for a scientific or educational purpose. 

Marketing material shall not be presented in such a way that its real objective is disguised. Promotion must not be disguised as market research. 

It is important to ensure that all research is conducted with a primarily scientific or educational purpose or it may be deemed as disguised promotion. Therefore, it is important that study documentation should not be promotional in appearance or feature brand names of products. 

Post-authorisation studies can be conducted only after proper vetting by relevant authorities. Such studies or programmes should not be carried out as disguised promotion. Adherence to the letter of the existing regulations will not be accepted as sufficient proof for a study to be considered to adhere to the spirit of the code. 

Market research, although mentioned in a number of the codes, is not normally considered promotional if conducted correctly. Care must be taken to ensure that it and the materials used in the research are non-promotional, otherwise it may be considered disguised promotion. The results of the market research can be used promotionally in some countries, with Turkey being an exception. Therefore, if considering using market research promotionally, individual country rules regarding this should be checked. 

Market research must not be used as a form of disguised promotion... 

Market research activities, post-marketing surveillance studies, clinical assessments and the like must not be disguised promotion. The use to which the statistics or information is put may be promotional. The two phases must be kept distinct. 

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