The complaint to the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct Committee was made against Bayer, Merck Sharp & Dohme and Novartis. The companies advertise their prescription medicines – Eylea, Saflutan and Lucentis – in mivision.
The content of the advertisements was not in dispute. Rather, the complaint and subsequent appeal by the member of the public had argued that ads for prescription medicines “should not be included in a publication that is distributed to optometrists who are not endorsed… to prescribe medicines and therefore should be treated as members of the public” rather than healthcare professionals.2
All three companies rejected the complaint and subsequent appeal, both of which were dismissed by Medicines Australia, with the Appeals Committee determining that “the placement of advertisements for Eylea, Lucentis and Saflutan in mivision magazine had not been in breach of Section 13.3 of the Code of Conduct”.2
“the member of the public had argued that ads for prescription medicines should not be included in a publication that is distributed to optometrists who are not endorsed”
“As the appeal was not upheld and the Code Committee’s decision to find no breach of the Code was confirmed, no sanction was imposed,” a Medicines Australia report on activities concluded.
The report can be read at www.medicinesaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2014/02/20150316-rep-gen-pub-activities-February2015.pdf
REFERENCES
1. www.PharmaDispatch.com.au 01/04/2015
2. www.medicinesaustralia.com.au
