Two German doctors are convicted of taking drug company bribes
Two doctors in Germany have been convicted of bribery for accepting money from a drug firm for prescribing its drug.BMJ 2010, 341,c6359
12/11/2010
Drug companies to declare all payments to doctors from 2012
Changes to the UK drug industry code of practice (ABPI) will require drug companies to make an annual declaration of how much money they have paid to doctors for use of their services. The changes will see each drug company declare the amount and the number of times payments were made to doctors, including speaker fees, advisory boards and consultancy, and sponsorship for attendance at meetings. The code does not however require individual doctors to be named.Another change to he code which comes into effect on 1st Jan 2011, will ban the industry from providing branded promotional items such as pens to healthcare professionals. Health professionals may still get pens and paper at conferences but this will not bear the name of any medicine, just the company name.BMJ 2010, 341, c6290