US drug giant Eli Lilly has been ordered by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to scrap a leaflet for the promotion or diabetes treatments, which it produced for the charity Diabetes UK. The order comes nearly a year after the company withdrew the offending leaflet, after being notified by the Agency of a complaint.
The leaflet, which only carried the charity's logo, did not inform readers that it was written by the pharmaceutical company. It also failed to warn patients who use schizophrenia drugs including Lilly's Zyprexa (olanzapine) about the risks of hyperglycemia and diabetes.
Eli Lilly says that the failure to mention on the document that it was the sponsor was an oversight, and that the leaflet was withdrawn in May last year as soon as the firm was contacted by the MHRA. The Agency admitted that its following up on the issue had been slow, because it was covering an unclear area of the law. However, the ruling is likely to prelude a more agressive policing of drug company/patient organization publicity.
This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.
Login to your accountTry before you buy
7 day trial access
Become a subscriber
Or £77 per month
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed
Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK
Copyright © The Pharma Letter 2024 | Headless Content Management with Blaze