After the UK Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency announced that it would not be taking legal action over the marketing of its slimming drug Xenical, Roche pharmaceuticals is potentially facing a case brought by the European Commission.
The potential law suit relates to sanctions that were imposed on Roche last year by the pharmaceutical industry’s trade body after they were discovered to be using aggressive sales tactics in private clinics.
The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, which sees itself as the self-regulatory authority of the pharmaceutical industry in Britain, last year suspended Roche’s membership of the body for 12 months for what it described as ‘bringing the pharmaceutical industry into disrepute’ over its sales of Xenical.
There was no penalty but did prompt the MHRA to launch its own investigation. However they concluded that there was no realistic chance that they would successfully prosecute the firm. Roche say that they abided by the disciplinary body of the pharmaceutical industry, but then withdrew their membership of the trade body.
The situation has highlighted uncertainty about who is responsible for disciplining pharmaceutical companies, with European, national and industry-created bodies all monitoring the actions of companies.