5 recent decisions from ENLI about violations of the Promotion Code
Legal News
The Ethical Committee for the Pharmaceutical Industry (ENLI) has just published a series of cases in which ENLI’s Promotion Code was found to have been violated.
- Network for IBD Nurses
The meeting "Network for IBD Nurses" had two topics each lasting 45 minutes on the programme. The topic entitled “future cooperation in Covid-19 times” was considered to be in the character of planning for the future, and the overall programme was therefore considered contrary to the Promotion Code, as the this did not have the sufficient healthcare professional and treatment oriented aim.
Read the decision (in Danish).
- Sponsorship of meeting at a seaside hotel
It was considered contrary to the Promotion Code to sponsor a professional meeting held in the beginning of September at the three-star seaside hotel Ballebro Færgekro. As using seaside hotels "during the season" is considered contrary to the Promotion Code, and as the month of September was considered as being "during the season", the sponsorship violated the Promotion Code.
Read the decision (in Danish).
- Disclosure of the basic list of the Capital Region of Denmark
The basic list of the Capital Region of Denmark had been placed in a doctor's letter box unsolicited, without any additional material and with a personal greeting and a number of handwritten comments to said list. This was found to be contrary to a number of rules in the Promotion Code, including that the disclosure did not take place in a neutral manner, and that the disclosure contained puffery comments and did not comply with the industry rules regarding good marketing practices.
Additionally, the material was found to constitute disloyal comparative advertising, to comprise an inaccurate representation of a figure, and to contain absolute expressions like "the only" and "easy and simple for the patient and the practitioner" without any legal documentation.
Read the decision (in Danish).
- Using pictures from a patient case in promotional material
Three pictures had been used in an advertisement to illustrate how severe a reaction a patient could expect when using the medicinal product during the first two to eight weeks.
The first two pictures were found to constitute legal information about disease, whereas the third picture was found to constitute a patient case, as in this picture the patient was almost symptom-free after only 4 weeks. Accordingly, the third picture was found to constitute puffery and was thus contrary to the Promotion Code.
Read the decision (in Danish).
- Picture used in promotional material
The assessment was that a picture used in promotional material showed a number of particles, by implication multiple myeloma cells, whose movement was stopped/deflected from going in the direction of a person/patient sitting calmly, relaxed, unaffected and protected on a bench in a pleasant and charming scenario. On this basis, it was found that the picture suggested that the effect is completely protective, which was found to be disproportionate and misleading in relation to the underlying disease and the effect and side-effect profile of the product.
This was contrary to the Promotion Code.
Read the decision (in Danish).