Harvey urges GMiA data
October 6, 2010
HEALTH activist Ken Harvey from
La Trobe University has suggested
that the Generic Medicines Industry
Association provide “pooled data
from its members on the exact
monetary value (and type) of the
non-price benefits provided to
pharmacy”.
In a resonse to the ongoing
ACCC enquiry into the GMiA Code
of Conduct, Harvey says assertions
in the GMiA application that nonprice
benefits to pharmacy owners
amount to less than 1% of total
benefits should be backed up by
figures from member firms.
‘Failure to disclose this data
creates a perception that member
companies of GMiA have
something to hide,” he said.
He also argues that pooled data
would eliminate commercial inconfidence
concerns held by
individual companies and would
also “enable an independent
judgement to be made of the
potential impact of such benefits”.
Harvey also hit out at GMiA’s
response to the ACCC that “the
relationship between the supplier
and the pharmacy does not
influence or change the type of
generic medicine dispensed and
therefore there is little or no impact
on the patient”, citing the GMiA
code which acknowledges that
‘marketing of generic medicines
typically seeks to change behaviour
at the point of dispensing, not at
the point ofprescribing’.
“If a pharmacist switches patient’s
generic brands purely as a result of
industry promotional activities such
as cruises, reward schemes and
discounting this is likely to produce
unnecessary patient confusion,
compliance problems and impaired
health outcomes,” Harvey said.
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