Ethics and professionalism: Way forward for SL pharmaceutical industry

Adherence to ethics and professionalism is definitely the way forward for Sri Lanka’s pharmaceutical industry, stated Virender Lamba, Director – Compliance (Nepal and Sri Lanka) of Sanofi India, while addressing a workshop on ethics and good practices in pharmaceutical marketing. The workshop was organised by the Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI) at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo.

“Society demands accountability and transparency from pharmaceutical marketers. Therefore, those who are involved in the business should understand the nobility of the profession. We are in the business of alleviating pain. Hence, we have a serious responsibility towards society,” he said.

He pointed out that in the US and the UK, there are stringent measures in place to regulate pharmaceutical sales and marketing professionals. In that system, companies are responsible for the conduct of their business associates. Also, failure by a business organisation to prevent bribery and corruption is considered a corporate offence, he explained.

Some promote ‘whistle blowing’ (anonymous complaints) as a way of promoting ethics and good practices in pharmaceutical marketing. “Such measures have been taken to restore credibility in the industry,” he stated. He also commended the various initiatives by the SLCPI to educate stakeholders of the industry on ethics, integrity and good practices.

“Now we need to relook our approach, strategies and reward structures with a view of promoting ethics,” the Managing Director said.

When companies, according to him, focus on single targets they tend to compromise on ethics. He recommended that companies should have a two-way approach to achieve targets while adhering to ethics. “Companies focus so much on single targets that their members are ignorant of ethics and are unaware of the consequences of unethical behaviour.”

During his demonstration, Lamba also elaborated on the “thin line” between inducement and influence. “We should educate our associates, especially the ones who are dealing with government officials, on this. It is an undeniable fact that the industry needs the support of medical practitioners but how you get that support is also important. For instance, it is important that we focus more on patient education. But what happens between doctors and patients is none of our business. Likewise we need to know what our restrictions are.”

He also noted that companies with high integrity scores have reaped better results than companies with low integrity scores, as far as the Total Shareholder Return (TSR) is concerned. A properly maintained compliance program, he said, can always reduce costs of damages, settlements, penalties, unwanted legal fees etc. He also suggested the formation of groups on industry compliance and best practices.

“Compliance is not the 10th thing in your to-do-list. It is the way you do the first nine,” he remarked. “Compliance is not necessarily an administrative effort. It should be a permanent mindset. It needs support and examples from the top management,” he added, while stressing on the need to create a positive image about the pharmaceutical industry.

“If we don’t change, society will put pressure on us. There will be new laws which will force us to change. It is our responsibility to understand the value of our job and nobility of our profession.”

Mahanama Dodampegama, Ex-President of the SLCPI, highlighted the need of organising forums targeting the middle level of the industry. “We have CEO forums and comprehensive dialogues targeting the top level. But it is important to have forums of this nature targeting the operational level of the industry. That will make our endeavours more meaningful,” he added.

“The majority of the stakeholders in this industry exercise ethical practices and protect integrity. Only a handful of people violate them but unfortunately, their conduct tarnishes the image of this noble industry. “

Award winning brand and national marketer Rohantha Athukorala, the Head of National Portfolio Development (Sri Lanka and Maldives) for United Nations (UNOPS), shared key developments in Sri Lanka for 2013 and ethical guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry. He pointed out that being ethical is not a choice of one’s organisation, but a choice between his or her conscience and career. “If your career is marred by unethical practices, no one is going to recruit you again – it is as simple as that.”

On the part of pharmaceutical companies, he added, they should be lean (low cost), mean (re-align) and clean (ethical) in order to achieve success. Companies should have a fresh approach in terms of sales and marketing as a way of promoting ethical practices.

“Do your math and analyse the numbers. Analyse your consumers and their consumption. Know where you are and where you want to be. See whether your numbers are realistic and set goals. If you are pursuing unrealistic goals, you will never be able to play the game based on values and ethics,” he said.

The audience included pharmaceutical marketing professionals, traders and other stakeholders of the industry. All the participants of the workshop received a certificate from the SLCPI. A raffle draw was also conducted to add an element of entertainment to the event, for which the first prize was a return ticket to Paris.