The pharmaceutical industry has published details of 'education' events held for doctors today after failing to block a ruling by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that it include disclosure of the parties in its code of conduct.
The report, published on the Medicines Australia website, reveals over $30 million was spent in the last six months of 2007 alone on hospitality and entertainment at drug company sponsored events.
Travel, accommodation and catering cost $16.4 million, and the staging of the events - including organisational costs, speaker fees and venue hire - cost $31 million.
The report also reveals 52 of the events have been referred to an independent committee for investigation because they could be in breach of the code of conduct.
MA chief executive Ian Chalmers said the industry took breaches very seriously.
“There is a robust and independent complaints process in place, authorised by the ACCC. That process must be allowed to run its course,” Mr Chalmers said.
“Only 52 of more than 14,000 educational events in the report have been referred for independent investigation, which means more than 99.6 per cent of events were compliant with the Code."
The result of the independent investigation together with details of any sanctions imposed on companies will be made public after the complaints process has been finalised, he said.
The document was prepared by Deloitte consultants after the ACCC ordered Medicines Australia to make public details about 'educational' events for doctors, amid concern about a conflict of interest between them and the drug companies.
"There is a real risk that (in the absence of) any requirement for regular reporting and public disclosure proposed in the ACCC condition, some companies will test the boundaries and offer inappropriate benefits to healthcare professionals," the ACCC said in its ruling.
Medicines Australia challenged that decision in the Australian Competition Tribunal, arguing that the information would be misinterpreted by readers who did not understand the "genuine educational benefits" of the gatherings.