ABPI president steps down over Novo Nordisk code of practice breach

Pinder Sahota

A Novo Nordisk exec has stepped down from his position as president of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry as his company faces questions over the sponsorship of webinars touting its weight loss and diabetes treatment Saxenda.

Pinder Sahota, Novo Nordisk’s general manager UK, resigned from the presidency last week to “avoid an ongoing process around a Novo Nordisk ABPI code of practice breach becoming a distraction from the vital work of the ABPI.”

ABPI VP Susan Rienow, Pfizer’s president in the UK, will serve in the interim until a new president is chosen.

Susan Rienow

According to the case report, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority — the self-regulatory body that administers the ABPI’s code of practice for the pharma industry — received a complaint in June 2021 that a free weight management course offered by a clinical training provider for health professionals didn’t make it clear that Novo paid for the costs.

The case summary read:

The complainant alleged that the LinkedIn post did not make clear Novo Nordisk’s involvement, nor stated whether it was a promotional or non-promotional meeting; given that the course was for a therapy area, Novo Nordisk was involved in, and ended up giving, a PGD to ensure that even non-prescribers could indirectly prescribe its product, this appeared to be promotional.

It was also noted that Novo Nordisk claimed it supported the course “at arm’s length” — but apparently not far enough.

The authority decided that the course was promotional material for Saxenda and that Novo Nordisk and the third party that had provided the course reduced confidence in the pharma industry.

The consequences? A public reprimand for Novo Nordisk and a report to the ABPI.

Although a majority of the ABPI board voted to suspend Novo, the 75% required to make the change wasn’t reached. Thus, the board asked the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority to audit Novo “to assist the ABPI Board in understanding the company culture and whether this case was a one-off issue or an indicator of a wider compliance failure.”

A Novo Nordisk representative told Endpoints News in an email that the company takes the breach “extremely seriously.”

“The intention of our actions was to educate health care professionals on weight management and the appropriate use of our medicine, however we accept significant mistakes were made in relation to a sponsorship arrangement,” the emailed statement reads in part. “The Code of Practice process is ongoing, and following the recent audit, we intend to implement all recommendations to ensure that this cannot happen again.”

weight loss
therapy