Roche fined over “extravagant” meals for doctors

Roche has been fined $A75 000 (£30 200; €44 900; $59 100) for breaching provisions of the Australian drug industry's voluntary marketing code of conduct specifying that hospitality should be “simple and modest.”

In July last year the BMJ (2006;333:169) and the Australian newspaper reported that Roche Products spent more than $A71 000 on three lavish conference dinners for about 330 doctors. Since then the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Australian government drug regulator, lodged a complaint alleging that Roche may have breached six provisions of the code. Roche is a subsidiary of the Swiss based F Hoffmann-La Roche …