Is Self-Regulation Sufficient? Case of the German Transparency Code

Kristin Buske, Stefan Jentzsch and Clemens Bechter
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Kristin Buske: Euro*MBA, Tongersestraat 49, Maastricht 6211 LM, The Netherlands
Stefan Jentzsch: Parella Weinberg Partners, 20 Grafton Street, London W1S, UK
Clemens Bechter: Thammasat Business School, 2 Prachan Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand

Administrative Sciences, 2016, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: The German pharmaceutical industry is stepping ahead with its implementation of a new transparency disclosure code for cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and health care professionals (HCPs) and health care organisations (HCOs). In Germany, this transparency code (“Transparenzkodex”) is applicable since January 2015, and data will be publicly available around mid-2016. No empirical work has been done that addresses the impact of the transparency code on cooperation between HCPs, HCOs and the pharmaceutical companies, including the possibilities of competitive analysis of the available data. In this paper, we interviewed experts from 11 pharmaceutical companies representing small, medium-sized as well as multinational corporations which represent 80% of the German pharmaceutical market. Besides interviews, the authors designed a game to evaluate possible financial investments in key opinion leaders. The market can be regarded as a zero sum game. By allowing public identification of such key HCPs and HCOs, the amount spent on them might increase and not decrease. In a way, the transparency code may foster more and not less spending; in our simulation game, the financial investment in marketing key HCPs and HCOs exceeded sustainable limits.

Keywords: marketing; pharmaceuticals; transparency code; Germany; self-regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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