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Lilly's support coincides with today's announcement by PhRMA, whose Boardof Directors approved the revised Code at its June 2008 meeting. Lilly is amember of PhRMA and played an active role in driving the Code revisions.
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"Our sales representatives are a valuable resource to healthcareprofessionals, informing them about the scientific advancements in medicine,"said Robert Brown, chief marketing and operations officer for Lilly's U.S.operations. "We believe that the meaningful Code revisions that have beenadopted will address the concerns of our various stakeholders and strengthenthe public trust in our industry."
"Lilly believes the revised Code will help to ensure that the informationexchange with healthcare providers continues to be appropriate and ethical,"said Brown.
The new Code will set a new standard for appropriate sales and marketingpractices, while codifying many of the practices already common within theindustry. Some of the changes include, but are not limited to, the following:
-- Limits meals to modest, occasional, in-office with informationalpresentations. Allows outside meals only in conjunction with speaker or peerselling programs.
-- Promotional gifts, such as pens and notepads, will no longer beallowed. No items can be given to healthcare providers unless they areeducational in nature such as anatomical models, textbooks or patientself-assessment and tracking tools.
-- Establishes a public website that will identify companies who commit toabide by the Code, provides contract information for the Chief ComplianceOfficers, and publishes the status of each company's annual certification.
The new Code takes effect in January 2009, and Lilly will beginimplementing the changes in the coming months.
"Moving forward, Lilly will strive to attain even higher standards in ourinteractions with healthcare professionals," said Brown. "Our marketingrepresentatives will continue to serve as an important connection point withour customers -- delivering reliable information about scientific advancementsand new therapies that help healthcare professionals understand whichtreatments are appropriate for their patients."
Lilly's participation in developing and supporting PhRMA's revised Codealigns with the company's agenda to build greater public confidence throughtransparency of its business. In 2004, Lilly became the first company tovoluntarily make public its clinical trials and its clinical trials data; thatinformation can be found at www.lillytrials.com . And last year Lilly addedanother first by publicly reporting all of its educational grants andcharitable contributions and, each quarter, posting the data online atwww.lillygrantoffice.com . In May, Lilly became the first pharmaceuticalresearch company to support the Physicians Payments Sunshine Act. Thebipartisan bill would establish a national registry of payments to physiciansby medical device, medical supply and pharmaceutical companies.
About Lilly
Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation, is developing a growingportfolio of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products byapplying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and fromcollaborations with eminent scientific organizations. Headquartered inIndianapolis, Ind., Lilly provides answers -- through medic