Drug companies must be open about using doctors as consultants, new code of practice demands

doi:10.1136/bmj.39581.584815.DB

BMJ 2008;336:1095 (17 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.39581.584815.DB

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Drug companies must be open about using doctors as consultants, new code of practice demands

Owen Dyer

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The way that drug companies hire and reward doctors for consultancywork is to be regulated in the United Kingdom for the firsttime under new rules laid down by the British drug industry’strade association.

The revised code of practice from the Association of the BritishPharmaceutical Industry bars drug companies from offering "tokenconsultancy arrangements" that are used "to justify compensatinghealth professionals."

Consultancy work must be covered by a written contract thatlays out the services involved, it says, and remuneration shouldreflect fair market value. Companies should not engage moreconsultants than they need, says the new code.

Industry members are also "strongly encouraged" to include clausesin consultancy contracts requiring consultants to declare linksto the company whenever they publicly discuss issues concerningit. The code encourages drug companies to renegotiate existingcontracts to include such a disclosure clause.

The new rules also require for . . . [Full text of this article]

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