The interview guide was developed after reviewing interview guides of other published studies with similar goals. In order to understand healthcare providers’ perspectives on pharmaceutical promotion and influence, a qualitative study was conducted, including semi-structured in-depth interviews with physicians, dentists, pharmacists and policymakers. In this study we aimed to analyze the perception of and attitudes towards the promotional and marketing activities of pharmaceutical companies aiming to influence physicians’ prescribing in Egypt, as viewed from the perspectives of different stakeholders of the healthcare system. While Western concepts of “bribery” and “corruption” often do not map directly onto the social and cultural practices in low- and middle-income countries, it is assumed that substantial influence on the prescribing habits of medical practitioners might occur due to weak regulation and monitoring mechanisms. However, limited resources are devoted to this activity or if there is no active monitoring of pharmaceutical marketing activities. In 2011 the EDA established the Department of Marketing Materials and Media Monitoring, aiming to review and ensure the integrity of promotional materials and to regulate the activities of pharmaceutical companies’ scientific offices. The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) is the regulatory body for the safety and quality of pharmaceutical products, the conduct of pharmaceutical practice and the availability of high-quality medicines at affordable prices. Demographic, epidemiological and social transitions increase medicine consumption, making Egypt a lucrative market for pharmaceutical companies. In 2009 the expenditure for pharmaceuticals in Egypt was EGP 21,000 million (US$ 3,559 million) in total and EGP 253 (US$ 42.89) per capita. Multinational and local private companies hold more than half of the total market share. From among 47 pharmaceutical producers active in Egypt, 37 belong to the public sector, 4 to the local private sector and 6 are multinational companies. Egypt is the largest pharmaceutical manufacturer in the Middle East and North Africa region, holding 30% of the regional market share. For example, approval for the manufacture and sale of medicines in Egypt is seen as an opener to the pharmaceutical markets of other Arab countries. Nevertheless, regulating their efforts to increase profit is challenging especially since pharmaceutical companies are considered relevant for innovation in medicine.Įgypt, as the largest Arab middle-income country, with a population of about 85 million people and central to modern Middle Eastern politics, plays an influential role for pharmaceutical companies’ promotional strategies. īut regulation of pharmaceutical promotion is needed because of the conflict between the profit-oriented pharmaceutical industry's legitimate business goals to maximize returns on investment and patients, health care providers and societal expectations to use medicine in the most rational way.
Private pharmaceutical companies are expected to maximize their profits therefore they have an interest in influencing sales of medicines, for example by providing medical practitioners with incentives to increase medicine consumption. Anonymized transcripts are available upon request to the corresponding author.įunding: The authors have no support or funding to report.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedĭata Availability: Transcripts from interviews with doctors, pharmacists, and policy makers cannot be made publicly available due to the identifying nature of these transcripts. Received: OctoAccepted: SeptemPublished: October 16, 2015Ĭopyright: © 2015 Kamal et al. PLoS ONE 10(10):Įditor: Barbara Mintzes, the University of Sydney, AUSTRALIA (2015) Perceptions and Attitudes of Egyptian Health Professionals and Policy-Makers towards Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives and Other Promotional Activities. Citation: Kamal S, Holmberg C, Russell J, Bochenek T, Tobiasz-Adamczyk B, Fischer C, et al.