AstraZeneca has stopped paying the travel expenses of doctors to attend international medical conferences, in a bold move to clamp down on an industry practice long viewed by critics as aggressive marketing.
The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group has resolved that it will in future fund only local medical education programmes around the world, as part of a broader and more restrictive code of ethics governing its operations.
The move is the latest effort by an industry battling a low public image by imposing tougher guidelines following concerns that it attempts to influence doctors to prescribe their drugs even when not justified either by the price or the clinical evidence.