Keep compliant and carry on!

Recently we posted our tops tips for regulatory writers navigating the ABPI Code of Practice. Now it’s the turn of our MedComms team to share their perspective on why the ABPI Code matters to anyone working for or on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, including medical writers.

Getting to know the ABPI Code of Practice

Developed by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the ABPI Code sets the standard for professional and ethical communications in the UK pharmaceutical industry and underpins the day-to-day work of medical writers involved in promoting appropriate use of prescription medicines.

The Code is based on UK law, but in many aspects, it goes beyond this to produce a rigorous and detailed set of recommendations that govern the pharmaceutical industry’s communications and interactions with stakeholders.

The Code is centred around four key principles:

1. Benefitting patients and ensuring their safety
2. Acting with integrity to ensure that communications are accurate, balanced, up to date, and not misleading
3. Transparency and openness
4. Respect

Compliance is critical

Working within the ABPI Code is key to maintaining high ethical standards, and breaches of the Code risk embarrassing and potentially costly penalties to pharmaceutical companies. The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), which administers the Code, reviews around 150 potential breach cases each year.

Consequences of Code breaches can include:

• PMCPA investigations
• Financial penalties and formal sanctions
• Significant reputational damage for companies and brands
• Time and resources needed to respond to and defend allegations

It’s important to note that Code breaches can also be damaging to the reputation of the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.

Cracking the compliance conundrum

Practical tips to stay complaint:

• Keep up to date with the latest version of the Code and apply it to any piece of work that might be considered promotional
• Always consider a document’s end use; non-promotional materials used for promotional purposes must comply with the Code
• Understand the intended audience and ensure that content is appropriate for that audience
• Don’t use promotional language when writing for patients
• Avoid disguised promotion (this refers to promotional material that is inappropriately made to resemble non-promotional material, e.g., a pharma-sponsored advertisement in a journal that is made to look like a typical journal page)
• Verify that all claims are supported by current evidence and appropriate references
• Ensure your writing is balanced, fair and unbiased
• Consider taking some formal training

Avoiding social media pitfalls  

With the increasing popularity of digital communications, the PMCPA monitors social media for potential ABPI Code breaches and has released social-media-specific guidance on how to avoid them.

The PMCPA advise that interacting with social media posts or other content (e.g. liking and sharing) will likely be considered proactive dissemination of the material. If the material directly or indirectly refers to a specific medicine, it is likely to be considered promotion of that medicine.

This means that if you are employed or contracted by a pharmaceutical company, you should engage with social media cautiously, ensuring that any engagement is not in violation of the ABPI Code.

Consider these key points:

• Engagement includes creating, liking, commenting, or sharing posts using either a professional or personal account
• Posts fall under the Code if they are promotional or if they involve a UK-based company or personnel (whether that be creating the post, featuring in it, or just engaging with it)
• Compliant, non-promotional posts (e.g., corporate news, clinical trial recruitment, or links to press releases) and factual posts on therapy areas or drug classes are generally out of scope of the Code, unless a specific medicine/company is identifiable

Remember these practical tips:

• Carefully review language, hashtags, account tags, images, and links for Code compliance before engaging
• Do not create or engage with posts that directly or indirectly discuss licensed or experimental medicines

Key takeaways for remaining compliant

1. Work with the ABPI Code in mind when delivering any piece of work that might be considered promotional
2. Always ensure material is presented in a balanced, fair way, and claims are properly verified
3. Never promote prescription only medicines to patients
4. Engage with social media cautiously, ensuring that any engagement is not in violation of the ABPI Code

References:

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry 2024. Available at: https://www.abpi.org.uk/media/xmbnr12q/final-2024-abpi-code-_interactive.pdf. Accessed July 2026.

Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority. Social media guidance. Available at: https://www.pmcpa.org.uk/guidance-and-qas/pmcpa-social-media-guidance/. Accessed July 2026.