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news.Australia's industry self-regulator Medicines Australia has fined some of the major drug companies over $1.8 million on account of several sales breaches - vilifying rivals' products and lavish spending on educational presentations for doctors.
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Pfizer Australia was fined $200,000 after it was proved that its representatives in NSW and Queensland misinformed the doctors about a cholesterol-lowering drug produced by rival AstraZeneca. The doctors were told that AstraZeneca’s drug may cause kidney damage. Pfizer was found guilty of breaching the sales code and discrediting the pharma industry.
While Roche was fined $110,000 for sending out media releases promoting unregistered products, GSK Australia was also fined $100,000 for distributing deceptive promotional material about its products.
GSK had to shell out a total of $210,000 in fines for two medical conferences at luxury hotels on Sydney’s Darling Harbor.
Nycomed, Servier Laboratories and Solvay Pharmaceuticals also were fined for their lavish educational seminars that spent more time on hospitality rather than education.