The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7406 p744
24 June 2006

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Bayer breaks new rules for promoting animal medicines

Bayer Animal Health has fallen foul of a new rule that bans the promotion of animal medicines with offers of gifts.

The company offered to pay the cost of air travel and five nights’ bed and breakfast accommodation in a five-star hotel in Prague, Czech Republic, for selected high spending veterinary surgeons to coincide with the World Small Animal Veterinary Association congress in October. The offer, which did not include registration fees for the congress, was conditional on ordering medicines for delivery before a deadline.

In its defence, Bayer argued that the offer had been made before the rule change, repeated an arrangement made in previous years and was not generally available to all customers.