Ethics and professionalism must for SL pharmaceutical industry
View(s):Adherence to ethics and professionalism is the way forward for Sri Lanka’s pharmaceutical industry, Virender Lamba, Director Compliance (Nepal and Sri Lanka) of Sanofi India said addressing a recent workshop on ‘ethics and good practices’ in pharmaceutical marketing.
The workshop was organised by the Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI) in Colombo.
“Society demands accountability and transparency from pharmaceutical marketers. Therefore those who are involved in the business should understand the nobility of the profession. We are in the business of alleviating pain. Hence we have a serious responsibility towards society,” he was quoted as saying in a media release issued by the SLCPI.
In the US and the UK, he pointed out, there are stringent measures to regulate pharmaceutical sales and marketing professionals. In that system, companies are responsible for the conduct of their business associates. Also, failure by a business organisation to prevent bribery and corruption is considered a corporate offence, he explained. Some promote ‘whistle blowing’ (anonymous complaints) as a way of promoting ethics and good practices in pharmaceutical marketing. “Such measures have been taken, to restore credibility in the industry,” he stated. He also commended various initiatives by the SLCPI to educate stakeholders of the industry on ethics, integrity and good practices.
“Now we need to relook at our approach, strategies, reward structures with a view of promoting ethics,” the Sanofi Managing Director said.
When companies, according to him, tend to focus on single targets they tend to compromise on ethics. Companies, he said, should have a two-way approach to achieve targets while adhering to ethics. “Companies focus so much on single targets that their members are ignorant of ethics and unaware of the consequences of unethical behaviour.”
During his demonstration, Mr. Lamba also elaborated on the “thin line” between inducement and influence.
“We should educate our associates, especially the ones who are dealing with government officials, on this. It is an undeniable fact that the industry needs the support of medical practitioners. But how you get the support is also important. For instance, it is important that we need to focus more on patient education. But what is happening between doctors and patients is none of our business. Likewise, we need to know what our restrictions are.”
He also highlighted that companies with high integrity scores have reaped better results than companies with low integrity scores, as far as the Total Shareholder Return (TSR) is concerned. A properly maintained compliance programme, he said, can always reduce costs of damages, settlements, penalties, unwanted legal fees, etc. He also suggested the formation of groups on industry compliance and best practices.
“Compliance is not the 10th thing in your to-do-list. It is the way you do the first nine,” he remarked.
“Compliance is not necessarily an administrative effort. It should be a permanent mindset. It needs support and examples from the top management,” he added while stressing the need of creating a positive image of the pharmaceutical industry.
“If we don’t change, the society will put pressure on us. There will be new laws which will force us to change. It is our responsibility to understand the value of our job and nobility of our profession.”
Mahanama Dodampegama, ex-President of the SLCPI, highlighted the need to organise forums targeting the middle level of the industry. “We have CEO forums and comprehensive dialogues targeting the top level. But it is important to have forums of this nature targeting the operational level of the industry. That makes our endeavours more meaningful,” he added.
“The majority of the stakeholders of this industry exercise ethical practices and protect integrity. Only a handful of people violate them. But unfortunately, their conduct tarnishes the image of this noble industry. “
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