Sanofi’s sponsorship of the Olympics and Paralympics has led to a breach of the U.K. marketing code. Self-regulatory body the PMCPA ruled that the company brought discredit on the pharma industry by giving 21 tickets to the games, worth a combined 2,190 euros ($2,488), to patients in the U.K.
The French drugmaker received tickets to various events at the Olympics and Paralympics as part of its sponsorship of Paris 2024, with its global corporate social responsibility team in charge of managing the tickets. According to the new PMCPA report, following a request from its global corporate affairs team for vaccines, Sanofi offered tickets to patients and their caregivers and family members via a U.K.-based group.
In a voluntary admission to the PMCPA, Sanofi said its U.K. staff only learned about the tickets when the global team contacted its U.K. transparency team to ask how to record this transfer of value. Sanofi told the PMCPA about the tickets and provided more information when asked by the self-regulatory body.
Sanofi admitted to breaking the ban on giving gifts for personal benefit and to falling short of the high standards expected under the code. However, the French drugmaker argued it hadn’t brought discredit on the industry because giving tickets to U.K. patients “was a genuine, isolated error.” Sanofi outlined the steps it has taken in response to the error, including the consideration of disciplinary action.
The PMCPA acknowledged that the ticketing breach appeared to be an isolated incident, and the panel noted that the provision of the tickets didn’t appear to be linked to the use of any Sanofi medicine or vaccine and that the recipients weren’t in roles that could make prescribing decisions. Yet, the PMCPA still concluded that Sanofi brought discredit on the industry.
“The overall impression of Sanofi paying for tickets for patients, via a patient organisation, was one which would likely have a negative effect on the reputation of the pharmaceutical industry,” the PMCPA said in its ruling. “This was particularly so in relation to a high-profile event such as the Olympics and Paralympics where tickets were in demand.”
The panel added that “there had been a breakdown in governance within Sanofi in that the U.K. team had not been involved from the start, which led to a failure to consider the requirements of the Code in relation to the provision of gifts.”
Weighing those factors, the PMCPA ruled Sanofi had breached the clause related to bringing discredit on the industry, the most serious in its code.