Global

Canada is seen as an international “laggard” when it comes to transparency about financial ties between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians. If you live in the United States, you can easily find out if your doctor receives payments from drug companies. Ditto if you live in Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark and many other European countries. But not Canada. This country is seen as an international “laggard” when it comes to transparency about financial ties between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians. But there is a growing chorus of voices demanding change in the name of quelling concerns about …

The latest figures on drug company spending on healthcare professionals have been released, with six out of 35 companies putting more than the $1 million each into funding event registrations, travel and accommodation costs, fees for service and consultancies. Pfizer topped the list at nearly $1.9 million in total spending, followed by Boehringer Ingelheim at $1.38 million, while Bayer spent just over $1.2 million. The other companies with payments of more than $1 million were AstraZeneca, Novartis and BMS. Analysis showed an average spending of $600,000 per company between 1 May and 31 October 2016, with the lowest spending by …

On June 3, 2017, Korea’s version of the “Sunshine Act” will go into effect. Article 47-2 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act and Article 13-2 of the Medical Devices Act of Korea require all pharmaceutical and medical device companies to establish and maintain an expense reporting system to collect and report on economic benefits provided to healthcare professionals (“Expense Reporting System”). Under this newly required Expense Reporting System, pharmaceutical and medical device companies are now required to collect and keep records of any economic benefit provided to a medical institution or healthcare professional and prepare an expense report on such economic …

When it comes to corruption, Life Sciences companies are a frequent target of investigation and enforcement. The French enactment of Sapin II is the latest in a long line of laws to combat corruption. This article explores Sapin II and why the authors feel that Life Sciences companies are among the best positioned to comply with Sapin II’s requirements. To read the article by Amy Greenstein, Caroline Franco, Darren Jones and Veronique Monjardet

Le Conseil Constitutionnel a rendu, le 8 décembre dernier, sa décision relative à la loi Sapin II. De nombreuses dispositions ont été censurées – 27 articles au total – notamment en tant que cavaliers. Les dispositions relatives à l’anti-corruption ont pour leur part été largement validées. En tout état de cause, il est important que les entreprises puissent se mettre rapidement en ordre de marche s’agissant de leur mise en conformité et particulièrement avec les articles 17 et suivants qui ne nécessitent pas de textes d’application pour la partie relative aux plans de prévention. Pour lire l’article de Blandine Fauran

Le texte de la Loi relative à la transparence, à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique a été publié au Journal Officiel le 10 décembre 2016 :