The ABPI's campaign orchestrates both lobbying and public relations in its overall strategy. - "The battle plan"

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)
A Corporate Profile

By Corporate Watch UK
Completed September 2003


from - http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=397



The ABPI's campaign orchestrates both lobbying and public relations in its overall strategy. At a briefing to the Pharmaceuticals Marketing Society in 2000, the ABPI described its “battle plan” thus: “to deploy ground troops in the form of patient support groups, symapthetic medical opinion and healthcare professionals... which will lead the debate on the informed patient issue. This will have the effect of weakening political, ideological and professional defences... Then the ABPI will follow through with high-level precision strikes on specific regulatory enclaves in both Whitehall and Brussels...”7

Aiming to create more informed patients, in January 2000, the ABPI launched its Electronic Medicines Compendium. The eMC, launched under the slogan “if you can eMC it you can believe it,” is a web site giving detailed information on thousands of prescription drugs. A spokesman added, “we intend to work closely with patient interest groups.”8

Proposals for relaxing DTC regulations at the European Union have twice been rejected by the Euopean Parliament and may be thrown out completely later this year. For more information see the Consumers Association web site.

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