17-03-2025
Novo Nordisk membership in UK pharma body restored after suspension
LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Danish company Novo Nordisk's ( opens new tab membership in a UK pharmaceutical industry body has been restored after a two-year suspension for breaching a national drugmakers practice code.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry concluded it was satisfied the drugmaker had improved its compliance and governance protocols, the authority said on Monday.
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These protocols were audited by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, which concluded the company had taken the needed steps to ensure adherence to the code.
The association suspended Novo Nordisk in 2023 for not making clear its involvement in training on obesity drugs that the company offered to pharmacists on social media site LinkedIn.
That year, Novo Nordisk became Europe's most valuable company, surpassing French luxury group LVMH, on the roaring success of its obesity drug Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic.
During the audit initiated as a result of the suspension, the PMCPA publicly reprimanded Novo Nordisk twice for further violations of the code, including for failing to properly record and describe payments it made to individuals including patients and journalists.
Novo Nordisk said it had considerably strengthened its compliance processes. "We firmly believe that we now have the right foundations and governance in place to be fully and effectively self-regulating."
Maggie Fick
Thomson Reuters
Maggie is a Britain-based reporter covering the European pharmaceuticals industry with a global perspective. In 2023, Maggie's coverage of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk and its race to increase production of its new weight-loss drug helped the Health & Pharma team win a Reuters Journalists of the Year award in the Beat Coverage of the Year category. Since November 2023, she has also been participating in Reuters coverage related to the Israel-Hamas war. Previously based in Nairobi and Cairo for Reuters and in Lagos for the Financial Times, Maggie got her start in journalism in 2010 as a freelancer for The Associated Press in South Sudan.
