The Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is under fire after being publicly reprimanded by the British industry association for insufficient disclosure of payments and other benefits worth £7.8 million to patient organizations, health authorities, and journalists between 2020 and 2022.
The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), which oversees the Code of Conduct of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), stated on Friday that there were "apparent systematic failures in complying with the disclosure of transfers of value" at Novo Nordisk. This referred to both direct and indirect payments, such as covering recipients' expenses.
The PMCPA found that the disclosure errors affected 10-14 percent of the company's total annual transfers in the UK.
Last year, the ABPI suspended Novo Nordisk's membership for two years after it was found that the company had violated the rules by financing a 'covert' large-scale advertising campaign.
The latest reprimand occurred after a voluntary report by the Danish pharmaceutical company to the ABPI's ethics committee, following the company's discovery of errors in its own reporting over the period.
Although there are no financial penalties for the violation, the rare public reprimand from the ABPI represents a significant reputational damage for the company.
The booming market for weight loss drugs has helped Novo Nordisk achieve a market capitalization of $630 billion, but the company's success has also attracted the attention of politicians and regulators.
US President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders jointly called on Novo Nordisk and the US competitor Eli Lilly this week to significantly lower the prices of their weight loss medications.
The questioned payments went to healthcare professionals and organizations, individual patients and patient organizations, as well as journalists, according to PMCPA.
It was added that the company "apparently had no adequate supervision and processes for the correct disclosure of value transfers over a period of at least three years, thereby discrediting the pharmaceutical industry and diminishing trust in it.
Neither the PMCPA nor Novo Nordisk disclosed the amounts or the recipients of individual payments.
The company stated that it takes "the reporting of these payments extremely seriously" and has taken measures to ensure "how we track, label, and disclose payments,” and is working with external partners to ensure robust systems and processes.
The industry watchdog also stated on Friday that the Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis and the US competitor Pfizer had not disclosed relevant information for users of their products, which constitutes minor violations of the code.
It was found that Pfizer employees had promoted the company's Covid-19 vaccine on Twitter before it was clinically approved, without providing relevant safety information, as reported in a case first mentioned in April.
Pfizer stated that it accepts the judgment. "In this case, personal social media posts were accidentally published in November 2020 that did not meet the requirements of our industry code and Pfizer policy, and for this, we deeply apologize."
Novartis was accused of presenting outdated prescription information, including providing outdated information on their website.
Novartis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
