Director General of Farmaindustria, Humberto Arnés, together with the award organizers and the other winners

The General Council of Spanish Advocacy and Transparency International Spain have recognised Farmaindustria’s commitment to transparency, by awarding one of two prizes from the second edition of the Transparency, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Prize.

The jury has valued the pharmaceutical industry’s commitment to transparency “through the implementation of a Code of Good Practice that aligns its behaviour with national and international regulations and ensures that the promotion of medicines and relationships with professionals or health organizations are developed under strict, ethical principles“, according to the official note made public by the organisers.

Commitment

The prize, which is not a monetary award, is aimed at people or entities that “have stood out for their commitment and actions in the interests of transparency, integrity or the fight against corruption,” and the organizers pointed out that it aims to, “encourage and recognize the work of those who have shown a firm and exemplary attitude” in these areas.

The jury consisted of the President of Spanish Law, Victoria Ortega; the President of TI-Spain, Jesús Lizcano; the previous President of the General Council of Spanish Advocacy, Carlos Carnicer; lawyer and Member of the Board of the Fundación Abogacía, Milagros Fuentes; Professor of Criminal Law at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Silvina Bacigalupo and El País journalist; Juan José Mateo.

Quality

The first prize, in this second edition, was awarded to the General Council of Judicial Power, in particular to the Transparency Group of the General Council.  The second prize was given to the Civio Foundation, platform of defense of democratic quality.

The recognition of the Council of Spanish Advocacy and Transparency International has been added to the endorsements that different public and private organizations, such as the Transparency and Good Governance Council, and the media, have been giving in recent years to the pharmaceutical industry’s commitment to transparency, a pioneering sector initiative and supported by self-regulation.

Over the past three decades, through a solid and modern Code of Good Practice and a Deontological Oversight Unit that oversees compliance, the industry has been adding measures, ranging from the publication of sanctions and mediation agreements for breach of the Code, to the collaborations of the pharmaceutical companies with patient organizations. To this transparency exercise, the publication of collaborations involving transfer values between companies and organizations and health professionals was added in 2016, with the dual objective of highlighting, to society, the value of these collaborations for research and proper use of medicines, and therefore for the quality of health care for patients, and to prevent potential conflicts of interest.