How the pharmaceutical industry interacts with healthcare professionals, etc - consultation closes 5 Sep

Before we get going let's familiarise ourselves with some acronyms...

ABPI = Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
EFPIA =  European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations
MHRA = Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
PMCPA =  Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority 

This arrived in my inbox yesterday from the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) and is about a consultation that's currently taking place regarding several things including the way in which the pharmaceutical industry interacts with healthcare professionals.

Consultation on proposals to amend the 2014 ABPI Code of Practice (14 July 2014) ABPI

"Consultation launched on proposed changes to the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry and the Constitution and Procedure for the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority

Changes are proposed to the 2014 ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry and the PMCPA Constitution and Procedure.

There are a number of reasons for the changes including the work done by the group established by the ABPI Board to review the Code. Additional changes are also needed to implement fully the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA) Code on Disclosure of Transfers of Value from Pharmaceutical Companies to Healthcare Professionals and Healthcare Organisations. Updates to the EFPIA Disclosure Code and the EFPIA Code on the Promotion of Prescription-Only Medicines to, and Interactions with, Healthcare Professionals were agreed at the EFPIA General Assembly on 6 June 2014. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) consultation as part of the red tape challenge and the regular update of the Code and its operation have also resulted in proposals."

I'm not sure why it arrived by email yesterday when the consultation begain in July and ends in a couple of weeks - I've only found one mention of it on Twitter too.

Here are the documents, however the link for the "copy of the draft Code of Practice" which is given on the site doesn't work.

1. Proposals to amend the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry
2. Proposals to amend the PMCPA Constitution and Procedure
3. EFPIA Disclosure Code
4. EFPIA template
5. EFPIA HCP Code
6. Draft template (UK amendments to EFPIA version).  (Further work maybe required.  The differences between the EFPIA template and the UK template are limited to those changes necessary to reflect requirements of the ABPI Code and to provide the data in a form suitable for the ABPI searchable database.)

Visit the website for info on how to contribute to the consultation: Consultation on proposals to amend the 2014 ABPI Code of Practice (14 July 2014) ABPI.