AstraZeneca has refuted allegations its staff “refuse to cooperate and respect” the U.K. marketing code. The drugmaker successfully defended itself against claims senior staff ignored requests to unlike LinkedIn posts but the U.K. marketing watchdog still found the company had brought discredit on the industry in two cases.
PMCPA said one of the cases was triggered by “an anonymous, contactable complainant who described themselves as an AstraZeneca employee, and had later become non-contactable.” The complainant sent screenshots of LinkedIn posts that were liked by senior global U.K.-based AstraZeneca employees. One post described the start of a phase 3 trial. The other post focused on an AstraZeneca drug combination.
The complainant laid into the two employees who liked the posts, claiming they had ignored repeated requests “to unlike and thus stop sharing” the materials. According to the complaint sent in June 2023, “you can see the pattern of behaviour of promoting to the public on LinkedIn continues till day, repeated by a selection of senior, care free colleagues.”
PMCPA received two similar complaints that it reviewed as separate cases. One case involved one of the two senior global U.K.-based AstraZeneca employees targeted in the other complaint. The complainant alerted PMCPA to the alleged promotion of the cancer treatments capivasertib and Tagrisso on LinkedIn.
The PMCPA report on that case, the first in the series, lacks direct quotes from the complainant. A third complaint does feature direct quotes that echo the grievances raised by the person who described themselves as an AstraZeneca employee. The complainant behind the third case said they “pleaded with the senior leader to adjust [their LinkedIn] profile but there is no action, and a reluctance.”
AstraZeneca disputed the complainants' versions of events in its responses to PMCPA. One of the senior employees had never previously been asked “to withdraw a like, reaction or comment from any social media platform,” AstraZeneca said.
The other senior employee had only been asked to withdraw a like as part of one of the other complaints and acted immediately, AstraZeneca said. The findings informed the company’s conclusion that “requests to withdraw likes are actioned immediately and we do not have any evidence to suggest that employees are refusing to cooperate.”
PMCPA sided with AstraZeneca on that point, concluding that “the complainant had not provided enough information with regard to the allegation that many Cambridge-based colleagues had refused to cooperate with repeated requests to ‘unlike’ posts, despite compliance training and reminders.” But the panel still found the company breached the code in other ways.
PMCPA ruled that AstraZeneca breached clause 2, which covers bringing discredit on the industry, in two of the three cases. In one case, the panel said “the impression created by very senior staff acting contrary to the company’s global social media policy” informed its conclusion that AstraZeneca breached clause 2.
While PMCPA ruled breaches of clause 2 in two of the three cases, the panel completely absolved the company in the third case. The complainant asked PMCPA to consider seven clauses. The panel ruled AstraZeneca hadn’t breached any of them.