Watchdog rules that Merck violated the UK industry code of practice

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7537.323-a

BMJ 2006;332:323 (11 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7537.323-a

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Watchdog rules that Merck violated the UK industry code of practice

London Owen Dyer

The UK pharmaceutical industry’s regulatory watchdog has ruled that Merck violated the industry’s code of practice by altering guidelines on hypertension treatment to give greater prominence to one of the company’s own drugs.

The “ABCD” algorithm is intended to inform decisions on prescribing for high blood pressure in the guidelines of the British Hypertension Society, which were first published in the BMJ in March 2004 (BMJ 2004;328:634-40).

The letter A refers to angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, and the two types of drug are listed in the guidelines in that order. The guidelines specify that “all things being equal and when there are no compelling indications for treatment with a specific class of drugs, the least expensive drugs should be used.”

But in a wall chart published by the British Hypertension Society with support from Merck and distributed to British GPs, the order . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

British Hypertension Society guidelines for hypertension management 2004 (BHS-IV): summary: Bryan Williams, Neil R Poulter, Morris J Brown, Mark Davis, Gordon T McInnes, John F Potter, Peter S Sever, and Simon McG Thom
BMJ 2004 328: 634-640. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]