The ABPI Code: 1958-2008
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry is fifty years old in 2008, marking fifty years of self-regulation of the promotion of prescription medicines in the UK.
The Code has been regularly updated over the last 50 years and has always included requirements that go beyond UK law. The 1968 Medicines Act led to the first UK law controlling the promotion of prescription medicines. The industry continues to fully support robust self-regulation.
Why was the ABPI Code of Practice established in 1958?
Two principal factors led to the establishment of the ABPI Code in 1958:
1. The ABPI received occasional complaints about the promotion to doctors of medicines intended for supply on prescription but had no standards or mechanism to judge such complaints. There had also been some criticism by Members of Parliament and others.
2. The Committee on the Cost of Prescribing (chaired by Sir Henry Hinchliffe) was set up in 1957 to look at the increase in the cost of prescriptions issued under the NHS, to investigate contributing factors and to make recommendations. The Committee suggested that advertising was ‘repetitive and inadequately informative’ and asked whether the ABPI would recommend to its members that advertising should include the price as well as considering ‘some scheme of voluntary limitation on this form of advertising.’
The 1958 Code is attached below and a copy of the 2008 Code can be downloaded for comparison by clicking here.
A Quick guide to the Code for Health Professionals can be downloaded here.
The 50th anniversary debate, entitled, 'The ABPI Code: Still nifty at fifty?' took place at the Royal College of Physicians, London on the evening of 2 October 2008. The debate, chaired by John Humphrys, examined the impact that the Code has had on relationships between the industry and health professionals, how these interactions have changed over the past 50 years and where we go from here. The panel was made up of:
- Chris Brinsmead (President of the ABPI)
- William Harbage QC (Chairman of the Code of Practice Appeal Board)
- Andrew Jack (Journalist, The Financial Times)
- Dr June Raine (Director of Post-Licensing, MHRA)
- Dr Des Spence (GP, founder of 'No Free Lunch' and regular contributor to the BMJ)
To download an audio recording of the debate, click here. A transcript is also downloadable below.
Click on the decades on the right to see how the Code has developed over the years. A leaflet about the first 50 years and a more detailed paper about the history of the Code are also attached below.
