EFPIA Codes of Conduct Guide Janssen in Europe
Self-regulation to maintain integrity is a key factor in Europe with the pharmaceutical industry group EFPIA playing a key role
The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) has adopted several codes that the industry including Janssen applies to maintain its ethical standards. The key codes are
- ‘EFPIA Code on the promotion of prescription-only medicines to, and interactions with, healthcare professionals’
- ‘EFPIA Code of Practice on relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and patient organisations’
- ‘Code on disclosure of transfers of value from pharmaceutical companies to healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations’
More details on these codes are as follows:
“EFPIA Code on the promotion of prescription-only medicines to, and interactions with, healthcare professionals”.
This Code provides detailed guidance on the interpretation of these aspects of the EU legislation by pharmaceutical companies. The EFPIA Code aims to foster an environment where the general public can be confident that choices regarding their medicines are being made on the basis of the merits of each product and the healthcare needs of patients.
The EFPIA code is applicable to EFPIA member companies, their subsidiaries, and any companies affiliated with EFPIA members. Janssen is a member of EFPIA and fully applies the rules as laid out in this document.
“EFPIA Code of Practice on relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and patient organisations”
This code recognizes that pharmaceutical companies share common interests with patient organisations, which represent and/or support the needs of patients and caregivers. In order to ensure that relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and patient organisations take place in an ethical and transparent manner, EFPIA Members adopted this Code initially in 2007.
This Code requires pharmaceutical companies to disclose the monetary value of financial support to and of invoiced costs by patient organisations. Janssen companies publish the details of their co-operation on their country websites.
“Code on disclosure of transfers of value from pharmaceutical companies to healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations”
In June 2013, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) adopted this code in an effort to further self-regulate the way pharmaceutical companies can work and interact with healthcare professionals and their organisations when a value transfer is involved.
Healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations provide Janssen with independent and expert knowledge derived from their clinical and management experience and Janssen compensates them fairly for the services provided. To help clarify any misunderstandings, pharmaceutical companies, including Janssen, are leading a number of initiatives for providing more transparency about their activities and for inspiring more trust in the pharmaceutical industry.
With the implementation of the Disclosure Code, transparency of pharmaceutical company interactions with healthcare professionals was taken a step further. Meetings support and other payments made to healthcare professionals or healthcare organisations during the course of 2015 have been made public mid-2016 and then annually following this.
Does this interest you? Please see the EFPIA website for more information.