Janssen-Cilag v Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly

Promotion of Jardiance

‘Corrective statement

Between 12 January and 20 April 2016, a letter addressed to ‘Dear UK Healthcare Professional’ (ref UK/EMP/00241) was provided to you by a sales representative on behalf of Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd and Eli Lilly and Company Ltd (the Alliance). The letter was stapled to a copy of Zinman et al (2015), ‘Empagliflozin, Cardiovascular Outcomes, and Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes’ (the EMPA-REG study) and a 1 sided A4 sheet which gave the prescribing information for Jardiance (empagliflozin). Following a complaint under the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry, the Code of Practice Appeal Board ruled that the letter was inconsistent with the Jardiance summary of product characteristics and constituted disguised promotion. The Appeal Board also ruled that the Alliance had failed to maintain high standards and had brought discredit upon and reduced confidence in the pharmaceutical industry. As a result of the above the Alliance has been required to issue this corrective statement and to circulate a copy of the published report for the case which contains full details. This is enclosed. In addition the Alliance has been required to recover the material at issue. If you still have the material at issue please return it in the attached prepaid envelope as soon as possible. If you no longer have the material at issue, please confirm this by completing the attached reply slip and return in the attached envelope. 

On 29 July 2016, the Alliance sent the company's corrective statement to recipients of the ‘Dear UK Healthcare Professional’ at issue.