AUTH/3474/2/21 - Ever Pharma v Britannia

Use of business rate telephone number

  • Received
    19 February 2021
  • Case number
    AUTH/3474/2/21
  • Applicable Code year
    2019
  • Completed
    19 August 2021
  • No breach Clause(s)
  • Additional sanctions
  • Appeal
    No appeal

Case Summary


Ever Pharma complained about Britannia Pharmaceuticals Ltd’s use of an 0844 business rate telephone number for calls about services and patient information related to APO-go (apomorphine).

Ever Pharma alleged that asking patients and health professionals to pay to make calls about APO-go services and patient information brought the pharmaceutical industry into disrepute, in breach of Clause 2.

Ever Pharma explained that in response to intercompany dialogue Britannia committed that the 0844 number would be removed from circulation or updated by 29 January 2021 and changes made online before 31 December 2020. Unfortunately, that had not happened. Ever Pharma included both a screenshot and screen recording of a Britannia website, taken, ‎9 February ‎2021.

Ever Pharma noted that the website at that time had a job bag number of APO-1-0420-11048 and date of preparation of December 2020. The website was thus certified after Britannia’s undertaking to remove the 0844 telephone number. Ever Pharma subsequently identified that the number continued to be included in multiple materials. Including many NHS shared care guidelines and patient organisation information documents.
In summary Ever Pharma believed that Britannia had brought the industry into disrepute, in breach of Clause 2, for two reasons:

• For providing the APO-go Technical Support Line via an 0844 number which charged patients for the service without informing them.
• For breaching the undertaking it had given as part of inter-company dialogue.

The detailed response from Britannia is given below.

The Panel considered that contrary to Britannia’s submission, the technical support line was within the scope of the Code. It was to provide additional support to patients and health professionals in relation to the use of Britannia’s product, alongside Britannia’s nurse and medical information.

The Panel noted Ever Pharma’s allegation that Britannia had brought the industry into disrepute, in breach of Clause 2, for two reasons. Firstly, for providing the APO-go technical support line via an 0844 number which charged patients for the service without informing them.

The Panel noted the call charges and phone numbers section of the gov.uk website and the Ofcom site guidance accessed during its consideration of this case. The government guide indicated that an 0844 number was a business rate number and that such numbers were made up of a service charge up to 7 pence per minute plus an access charge from the telephone company. The range of charges for the service charge was the same whether calling from a landline or a mobile telephone. According to Ofcom guidance when a service charge was levied this must be clearly displayed wherever the phone number was advertised or promoted. It appeared that some arrangements included the access charge as part of the contract whereas other arrangements did not.

The Panel also noted the outcome of Case AUTH/3281/11/19 which was published on 20 July 2021and related to the use of a business rate number for medical information enquiries.

The Panel noted Ever Pharma’s submission that Britannia had committed that the 0844 number would be removed from circulation or updated by 29 January 2021 and changes made online before 31 December 2020. The Panel noted from Britannia’s response that following inter-company discussions with Ever Pharma that it had changed the arrangement for its business rate number for the technical support line, replacing it with a freephone number and implementing an automated voice message advising of the number change on 17 November 2020. It appeared that arrangements were changed and in place by the end of 2020. The Panel thus considered that the matter had been dealt with during inter-company dialogue and therefore made no ruling in relation to Britannia’s initial use of the business rate number.

The Panel noted Ever Pharma’s allegation that a website which was certified after the undertaking Britannia had provided to Ever Pharma included the 0844 business rate telephone number. Ever Pharma stated that at that time it had a job bag number of APO-1-0420-11048 and date of preparation of December 2020 and alleged that the second reason Britannia had brought the industry into disrepute, in breach of Clause 2 was for breaching the undertaking it had given as part of inter-company dialogue. The Panel noted that the outcome of inter-company dialogue was a matter for companies. The fact that a company might have not honoured its inter-company commitments was not necessarily a breach of the Code. Such a commitment was not the same as a formal undertaking given to the PMCPA by a company ruled in breach of the Code.

The Panel noted Britannia’s submission that the APO-go website was updated with the freephone number as per the commitment made to Ever Pharma, and the updated version was certified for use on 22 December 2020. The Panel further noted Britannia’s submission that the website was kept in ‘maintenance mode’ until certified whilst undertaking the updates and on 12 November 2020 its website host broke the links that led to the www.apo-go.com website to ensure that the pages could not be accessed and the associated pages were hidden.

The Panel noted Britannia’s submission, however, that two hidden website pages which included the business rate number were in error reinstated as live pages on 27 January 2021 by Britannia’s website host when performing an update. The Panel noted that whilst Britannia provided a number of webpages from the apo-go.com website, it had not provided these two webpages. None of the webpages provided by Britannia included the job bag number referred to by Ever Pharma but the date of preparation of each was December 2020 and appeared to be from the certified updated website. The Panel considered that it was likely that the two reinstated pages had the incorrect date of preparation of December 2020 because of the update to the apo-go website which used a new footer. There was no evidence that Britannia had certified pages with the business rate number after its agreement with Ever Pharmaceuticals.

Whilst the Panel was concerned that according to Britannia the business rate number was given on the two hidden webpages that had been reinstated in error by its website host which was contrary to Britannia’s commitment following the inter-company dialogue, according to Britannia anyone who telephoned the business rate number from 17 November 2020 would be redirected to a freephone number. This would also be so for those who had found the business rate number on the two webpages which were reinstated in error.

With regard to the use of the 0844 telephone number in many NHS shared care guidelines, the Panel noted Britannia’s submission that NHS Shared Care Guidelines were NHS documents and that Britannia had no authority or control over those documents. The Panel noted that according to Britannia it wrote to all patients and health professionals on 23 December 2020, notifying them of the telephone number change and further anyone who telephoned the business rate number from 17 November 2020 would be redirected to a freephone number.

The Panel noted its comments and concerns above and the actions taken by Britannia following inter-company dialogue. Whilst the Panel considered that high standards had not been maintained in relation to the reinstatement of the webpages containing the business rate number, it did not consider that the particular circumstances of this case brought discredit upon, or reduced confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry as alleged. An alternative freephone number was made available by Britannia and callers to the business rate number would have been directed to it at the time the webpages with the business rate number at issue were reinstated in error in 2021 and the complaint was made. The Panel therefore ruled no breach of Clause 2 of the Code.