The Center for Media and Democracy reports on a tidbit from across the pond:
“The U.K. drug industry's self regulatory body, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), has censured Janssen-Cilag after an employee from its PR firm, Burson-Marsteller (B-M), offered journalists cash if they attended a hearing of the government drug regulator. The offer related to a public hearing on Jannsen-Cilag's appeal against a decision against approving the drug Eprex before the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. "As it is possible that the hearing will take up most of the day, and we understand that your time is valuable, we are able to offer £200 (€293) if you wish to attend," the B-M employee wrote. The PMCPA found that Janssen-Cilag, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, was responsible for B-M's actions. In June B-M told PR Week the offer was a "human error" but has declined to comment on whether the employee still works for the firm.”
If you care to read the entire PMCPA case report, go to the PMCPA website, search for "Janssen-Cilag," and then click on the “Media/Director v Janssen-Cilag Alleged payment to journalist” link. It takes you to a pdf file of the full, seven-page case report.
In this country, we don’t have a cost-effectiveness review agency such as the UK’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE – although drug companies probably view it as anything but nice.) But we still see many ethically-challenged efforts to promote more drugs to broader markets.
Posted by schwitz at November 12, 2006 10:08 AM | TrackBack