GSK and Bayer breach Code of Practice

Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline have been named and shamed via adverts in the medical and pharmaceutical press after falling foul of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry’s Code of Practice. The ABPI’s Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority slapped Bayer on the wrist after the company displayed a leaflet already ruled in breach of the Code at a recent scientific meeting. Earlier this year, the company was ordered to withdraw any promotional material for its impotence booster Levitra (vardenafil) promoting its efficacy just 10 minutes after dosing, but one batch of such leaflets slipped through the net at the British Association of Urological Surgeons conference on June 29. An appeal board also upheld a complaint by Sanofi-Aventis over the activities of GlaxoSmithKline’s cervical cancer disease awareness team which, the group claimed, collectively amounted to the promotion of its cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix before it was approved by regulators. GSK claimed that the team’s role was to educate the relevant health professionals about the burden of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions, the causal role of cancer-causing types of human papillomavirus in cervical cancer, and the importance of the screening programme. Image source: sextoymeds.com. > Continue.

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company: Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline | Source: PharmaTimes