BMJ  2006;332:381 (18 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7538.381-a

News

Industry association suspends drug company for entertaining doctors

London

One of the world's biggest drug companies has been suspended from its UK trade organisation after two of its employees went with a doctor to a lap dancing club and for providing other extensive hospitality.

Abbott Laboratories has admitted providing senior hospital consultants with tickets to the Wimbledon tennis tournament and trips to greyhound racing. As a result the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has decided to suspend the company's membership for a minimum of six months—the severest penalty handed out by the organisation in 10 years.

In its ruling on 10 February the association said that the behaviour of Abbott's employees in attending a lap dancing club with a health professional would "bring discredit upon, and reduce confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry."

An anonymous "concerned member of the industry" blew the whistle on the hospitality, all of which took place in 2004. In January and September of that year Abbott managers held two "meetings" for 27 and 36 doctors respectively at a greyhound stadium in Manchester. Abbott was unable to provide details of what had been discussed at either meeting, and the association's disciplinary panel concluded they had been social trips—and in clear breach of the industry code.

In the summer of 2004 two senior hospital consultants were treated to centre court seats and full hospitality at Wimbledon, and in December of that year two Abbott managers paid for a hospital department's Christmas dinner.

But the decision of a senior Abbott manager to take a hospital doctor to a lap dancing club in February 2004 will probably do the most damage to the industry's image.

The association launched a tougher code of conduct at the start of this year, after a serious of public relations disasters. In 2005 it received stinging criticism in a report from the parliamentary select committee on health (BMJ 2005;330: 805[Free Full Text]). Earlier, in a series of high profile cases drug companies were accused of downplaying serious side effects of drugs.

A spokeswoman for Abbott said: "The company has a zero tolerance policy for behaviours that breach the company's code of conduct. Sanctions are taken, including termination, if violations are found.

"The allegations made during this case relate to the individual actions of a small number of employees in 2004."

Abbott conducted a thorough investigation, and as a result these employees either resigned or had their employment terminated, she said.

The doctors who accepted Abbott's hospitality have also come under fire. Richard Nicholson, the editor of the Bulletin of Medical Ethics, challenged the hospital consultants involved to come clean. "These people always claim that their prescribing is not influenced by these junkets. But nobody believes that—and not least the drugs industry. Why else would it spend $20bn a year in the US promoting their products to the medical profession?"

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