After Novo Nordisk breached not one, not two, but seven clauses of the code that regulates U.K. drugmakers, its U.K. general manager is stepping down as president of the industry's national organization.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) regulates its 120-plus members through the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA). Novo Nordisk was recently found (PDF) to be in violation of the U.K. national pharma code, and ABPI has an ongoing investigation into the company's conduct.
Now, Novo's U.K. general manager Pinder Sahota is resigning as ABPI president to avoid “becoming a distraction from the vital work of the ABPI,” the organization said in a statement.
The shuffling won’t impact the Novo Nordisk case, Richard Torbett, chief executive at ABPI, said in the statement. For now, ABPI Vice President Susan Rienow, who is the country president for Pfizer, will fill in until the board decides on a new president.
Novo's Sahota was instated as the vice president of the ABPI in May 2021 and was bumped up to president in August of last year. He’s served as Novo’s U.K. general manager since May 2018.
Late last year, PMCPA reprimanded Novo Nordisk for multiple breaches of the national pharmaceutical code.
The crux of Novo’s wrongdoing centered on a LinkedIn post about an obesity webinar, which was sponsored by the company. However, the sponsorship was not clear on the post, according to the complainant who brought the case to the PMCPA. Since Novo markets a weight loss drug called Saxenda, the post “appeared to be promotional,” the complainant said.
PMCPA agreed, saying that it was “very concerned that Novo Nordisk did not recognize that this was a large-scale Saxenda promotional campaign, which Novo Nordisk knowingly paid for and which was disguised.”
Novo wasn’t alone in breaking the rules. AstraZeneca, Biogen, Daiichi Sankyo, Lundbeck and UCB all committed similar acts, according to the PMCPA. However, only Novo got the scathing reprimands.