Complaints about Violations of Voluntary and Pharmaceutical Industry-Run Medicine Promotion Codes in Canada

Although regulation of pharmaceutical promotion in Canada is covered under the Food & Drugs Act and Regulations, in practice it is regulated by two codes, one a code administered by the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board and a second one controlled by Innovative Medicines Canada, the lobby organization for the large majority of the Canadian and foreign-owned pharmaceutical companies operating in Canada. This study examines complaints about code violations between 2012 and 2021 and puts those complaints and their outcomes into the context of the stringency of the codes, their governance, monitoring, penalties for violations, and compliance by companies. It combines the findings from this analysis with international experience with industry-run codes and concludes that overall, the Canadian codes are ineffective in controlling promotion. Finally, it offers recommendations for how regulation can be improved and how doctors’ reliance on information from pharmaceutical companies can be reduced.