GMiA to reveal incentives
August 4, 2010
INCENTIVES provided by
generics suppliers for pharmacists
will now come under the
microscope, after the ACCC
imposed two conditions on its
approval of the Generic Medicines
Industry Association (GMiA) Code
of Conduct (PD breaking news).
The conditional approval also
extends public scrutiny of
entertainment provided by the
generics firms to pharmacists,
under a similar regime to that
which applies to entertainment of
doctors under the Medicines
Australia code of conduct.
The MA code has resulted in a
massive reduction in hospitality
provided to doctors, as well as
massive fines imposed on drug
companies due to perceived
violations of the Code.
ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel
said that the conditions were aimed
at exposing deals between generics
makers and pharmacists.
“Increasing transparency around
the provision of non-price benefits,
such as hospitality, entertainment,
gifts and loyalty programs, by
pharmaceutical companies will
ensure these arrangements are
subject to public and professional
scrutiny,” said Samuel.
The ACCC has granted interim
authorisation of the code so that
the GMiA Complaints Committee
can convene to consider a
complaint already lodged against
an unnamed member company.
This is believed to be a complaint
from Melbourne academic Ken
Harvey about the Sigma Rewards
loyalty program for pharmacists.
The ACCC is proposing a three
year conditional authorisation, after
which GMiA will have to
demonstrate to the ACCC how
effective the code has been and
how it has been enforced in order
to be granted re-authorisation.
MEANWHILE the Consumers
Health Forum of Australia (CHF)
has welcomed the extra conditions,
saying that they will provide for
greater scrutiny of the relationships
between pharmacists and the
generics medicines industry and
“help improve ethical behaviour.
“We are pleased that the ACCC
has listened to our submission that
excluding pharmacists did not make
sense, given that the decision to
provide a generic medicine is often
made by the pharmacist, rather
than the doctor or specialist,” said
CHF Exec Director, Carol Bennett.
The CHF did however mention its
concern about what it believes are
“inconsistencies” between the
GMiA code and ‘other industry
codes’ such as the level of sanctions.
“We hope these will be resolved
in the current discussions around
high level principles for codes of
conduct for the promotion of
therapeutic goods,” Bennett added.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 04 Aug 10To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 04 Aug 10
