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Medicines Australia code of conduct finding

Friday July 25

In March 2008 AstraZeneca lodged a formal complaint with Medicines Australia against Pfizer Australia alleging breaches of the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct. The complaint asserted that some of our representatives in Queensland and NSW had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in respect of statements made about AstraZeneca's Crestor product during the period from July to October 2007.

Our internal investigations revealed that 9 Pfizer Australia representatives may have made some statements of the kind alleged by AstraZeneca. No senior manager at Pfizer Australia was aware that the conduct was taking place.

As soon as AstraZeneca made us aware of the alleged breaches, we took immediate action to prevent the conduct from occurring again, including updating and strengthening our policies and procedures, especially those which govern the use of published data.

At its April 21 meeting, the Code of Conduct Committee found Pfizer Australia in breach of the Code. We were fined $200,000 and ordered to issue a corrective letter to healthcare professionals in Queensland and NSW. We were also ordered to report to Medicines Australia and the Committee what actions we had taken to ensure compliance by staff with all provisions of the Code and evidence of revised compliance procedures.

Pfizer Australia is fully committed to the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct as well as to our own internal processes and procedures which govern our interactions with health care professionals. All of our medical representatives undergo intensive training in relation to our products and policies and are well educated in medical and technical knowledge to present information about our products in an accurate and balanced manner.

We will comply with Medicines Australia's request to issue a corrective letter to doctors in NSW and Qld.