The Society for Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing of Nigeria (SPSMN) is seeking compliance with standards and professionalism in the sales and marketing of pharmaceutical products in its push for the ethical use of drugs by patients.
Tunde Oyeniran, SPSMN president said knowledge, training, and ethics are critical if the country must achieve a significant impact on the health and well-being of the country, speaking at the induction ceremony and investiture of fellows of the society in Lagos.
Oyeniran, a pharmacist, reiterated the society’s commitment to fostering interaction, networking, and knowledge sharing among its members.
“We are a professional association and that predisposes that there is a minimum level of behaviour, a minimum body of knowledge and a minimum way of doing things that we must uphold. And that is what we are trying to do,” Oyeniran said.
“Before now, that doesn’t exist in the pharmaceutical industry. What happens in pharmaceutical sales and marketing is that it is an all-comers affair without any form of standardisation of behaviour or ethics. So, what we are trying to do is to bring together everybody involved in sales and marketing whether you are a pharmacist or not.”
Medicine promotion, advertisement, and publicity often have an influence on users and their consumption habits, with the potential of harmful consequences on individuals and collective health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) last week raised an alarm over stagnating breastfeeding rates, blaming it on aggressive marketing tactics used by manufacturers of breast milk substitutes to derail mothers.
The global health body lamented that manufacturers are using increasingly sophisticated promotional tactics including advertorials targeted at pregnant mothers’ mobile phones to coax mothers to market formula to one another.
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One of WHO’s ethical criteria for the promotion of medicines is that the information used for the publicity of medicines must be based on verifiable scientific evidence, accurate, reliable and must be updated.
The information must not contain confusing or possibly wrongly interpreted statements or omissions that may lead to health risks.
The information offered must be based on documents issued by the pertinent regulatory or health authorities, and backed by bibliographic references that should be available under the request.
Also, no type of medicine promotion, advertisement, or publicity should exaggerate the expectations of the product, above and beyond scientifically proven facts.
Furthermore, no actions of therapeutic, nutritional, cosmetic, diagnostic, or preventive properties, or any other type of property should be attributed to the medicines unless they have been clearly recognized or approved by health authorities.
But despite these ethics, several violations still happen, and countries including Nigeria still struggle to curb the adverse impacts.
“In the face of the challenges that the pharmaceutical sector encounters, SPSMN aims to be at the forefront of driving positive change. Our society aims to provide a unified platform for all sales and marketing practitioners in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector, irrespective of their educational background.”
Oyeniran, urging members to be disciplined and uphold standards at all times, said it requires collective efforts, for the pharmaceutical sector to be advanced for the benefit of patients, and provide drug security to teeming Nigerians.
According to him, the group brings about professionalism and ensures that efficacious products are delivered to people.
He noted that sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry is no longer an all-comers affair, stressing that the era of sharp practices is over.
