Several multinational pharmaceutical corporations have been reprimanded for violating the UK’s Prescription Medicines Code, a set of voluntary industry standards established by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and overseen by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA). The PMCPA has called out Novartis (NYSE: NVS), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Otsuka (TYO: 4578), and Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) for breaches of the ABPI Code of Practice, with varying degrees of severity.
Novo Nordisk, in particular, faced a public reprimand after it voluntarily reported in 2023 that it had failed to disclose payments amounting to GBP 7.8 million (USD 10 million) to health professionals and healthcare organizations between 2020 and 2022. The company stated that these payments were for legitimate activities but were incorrectly categorized due to human error.
Other violations highlighted by the ABPI included Novartis’ delay in updating documentation related to Entresto (sacubitril/valsartan) prescribing information in a timely manner. Pfizer was found to have promoted an unlicensed vaccine via social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), which also constituted a breach.- Flcube.com
