UK Industry Code Of Practice In 1996

The UK Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority received 102complaints in 1996, against 104 in 1995 and 145 in 1994, says the new issue of the Code of Practice Review.

In previous years, most complaints had come from health professionals; in 1995, for example, 64 complaints came from health professionals and only 26 from companies. But in 1996 only 40 came from health professionals, and 47 came from companies. This exceeds the previous high of 41 inter-company complaints in 1994. This issue of the report notes the following cases dealt with:

- Director/Media v Servier: a letter in The Lancet from MaLAM criticized a claim made for Coversyl (perindopril) that: "Coversyl is proven to remodel hypertensive arteries." In the UK the claim: "Proven to reverse cardiovascular modeling," was used. The Panel ruled this to be misleading, breaching Clause 7.2 of the Code. Servier appealed, but the Appeal Board upheld the Panel ruling;