Amendment of the Dutch Code of Conduct for Pharmaceutical Advertising

On 1 July 2018, an amended Code of Conduct for Pharmaceutical Advertising (Code of Conduct) entered into force. The amendment follows a revised version of the policy rules providing guidance on the ban of inducements with regard to medicines, which entered into force on 1 April 2018 (see our previous blog post "Revised Dutch policy rules on inducement prohibition regarding medicinal products enter into force").

The Code of Conduct, which is enforced by the Code Commission and Commission for Appeal, aims to regulate pharmaceutical advertising. The most important addition to the Code of Conduct is a regulatory framework about financial relationships that do not fall within the definition of inducement. This concerns financial relationships with non-practitioners, sponsorship of projects, and contributions to academic awards that are generally prohibited subject to certain exceptions.

In addition, the scope of the exceptions regarding two types of inducement is also amended: (i) services that are provided by a practitioner which are commissioned by a marketing authorisation holder; and (ii) hospitality that is provided to practitioners.

A prior version of this post was originally published by the same author in Practical Law – Life Sciences, June 2018 Issue (Thomson Reuters).