The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) ruled that Allergan breached UK pharma’s self-regulatory Code of Practice because an employee accidentally tweeted publicly about Botox (read the details here “Brits Versus Botox Tweet“).
Basically, an employee sent a public tweet to a friend in which he/she mentioned Botox and said “… we could do something around stroke rehab…” That was considered advertising to the public, a no-no in the UK and the rest of the world outside the U.S.
But PMCPA showed compassion saying that it noted that Allergan had a policy that clearly stated “no Allergan employee might comment in a social media forum about Allergan products or business activity.”
PMCA added “The Panel considered that Allergan had been badly let down by its employee.”
I sure would like to see Allergan’s “Global Social Media Policy.” I wonder if it is similar to Pfizer’s infamous “social media playbook?” (see here).
Maybe Elya Zarra, who is currently part of Legal Department – Regulatory Affairs/Compliance at Allergan would send me a copy. Part of her duties include “Development and implementation of internal policies and strategies, including a global social media policy” (see her LinkedIn profile). I can’t send her a direct message through LinkedIn because she requires contact only through her LinkedIn friends. And she doesn’t have a Twitter account that I can find. Perhaps it’s against policy for her to have one.
