Policy and Medicine: Current Healthcare Landscape and Predictions for 2014

We reported in November that the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) agreed to amend the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry to require increased disclosure of payments within the healthcare community. The ABPI released a statement highlighting the importance of greater transparency in the relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare professionals. It is likely that other European countries will be looking more closely at how they regulate relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare professionals. RICO… RICO…RICO In mid-December, the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Pfizer, letting stand a First Circuit ruling that the drug company improperly marketed Neurontin to Kaiser. The Court's denial means that Pfizer has to pay Kaiser $142 million in damages for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. This case is one of only a handful of off-label promotion cases involving the RICO Act, a law traditionally used to combat organized crime. What was most remarkable about the case was the amount of attenuation the court used. They found that Kaiser could rely on aggregate data showing a link between Pfizer's promotional spending for unapproved uses and the number of off-label prescriptions written. No doctors were interviewed to testify as to whether the improper marketing actually caused them to prescribe Neurontin for off-label purposes. The absence of a cau...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs