LONDON (Agence de Presse Medicale for Reuters Health), Jul 10 - Doctors working in the U.K. who accept gifts or hospitality from drugs companies face being struck off, the profession's governing body the General Medical Council (GMC) said on Monday.
The GMC's revised and more onerous code of conduct, which is currently out for consultation, is due to be published later this year, a spokesperson for the GMC told APM.
The tougher rules will warn doctors that their right to practice medicine will be at risk if they accept anything more than small gifts or hospitality from pharmaceutical companies.
Under the draft regulations the U.K.'s doctors will be told: "You must not ask for or accept any inducement, gift or hospitality which may affect or be seen to affect the way you prescribe, treat, or refer patients."
Exactly how the new rules will affect drug company promotion in the U.K. is not clear. The industry's own code insists that gifts are small and appropriate to the practice of medicine, often pens or notepaper for surgery use.
They also demand that drug or other education is at the root of any meeting including hospitality between company and doctor.
However, the GMC spokeswoman said the Council was spelling out what it expected from doctors. "A single serious incidence or persistent failure could put a doctor's registration at risk," she added.
Jane O'Brien, head of the GMC's standards and ethics said: "It will be made clear for the first time that their registration is at risk if they become involved in serious conflicts of interest of this sort."
She added: "It is vital that patients can rely on the fact that a doctor is prescribing them a drug in their best interests and not as a result of bribes or junkets that they've received."
Pressure on doctors
Plans to toughen up the rules come as evidence emerges that doctors are being offered bribes to promoted particular medicines.
Campaign group Consumers International said its report last month highlighted the problem.
It added that its report, called Branding the Cure, revealed a "shocking lack of publicly available information about the $60 billion spent annually by the industry on drug promotion.
"Transparent information about pharmaceutical marketing is vital if consumers are to be fully informed about the appropriateness of the drugs they are being sold and prescribed.
"Branding the Cure reveals this is becoming increasingly important as drug companies find new and inconspicuous ways to influence consumer opinion, such as sponsoring patient pressure groups, funding disease awareness campaigns and offering hospitality to medical experts."
However, the report was dismissed by European representatives of the pharma industry as poorly conducted. None of Europe's biggest markets were researched for the document, including the U.K.
Abbott temporarily suspended
In February, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) suspended Abbott Laboratories' membership for six months after the company was associated with "inappropriate" hospitality, including a visit by a health professional with two company representatives to a lap dancing club as well as providing senior hospital consultants with tickets for the Wimbledon tennis championship.
While Abbott's ABPI membership was temporarily suspended, it's understood none of the doctors involved was disciplined.
Last Updated: 2006-07-10 9:46:35 -0400 (Reuters Health)
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