The RCP has today ended its corporate partnership with Novo Nordisk following the company’s membership suspension by the ABPI for serious breaches of its Code of Practice.
Central to this decision is returning any outstanding grants to the company and putting on hold projects associated with those funds.
While the core activities of the RCP are funded from membership subscriptions, exams, venue hire and charitable donations, some supplementary projects are funded through corporate partnerships, including with the pharmaceutical sector. These can include membership events, conferences, webinars and fellowships.
Within ethical guidelines and to benefit their mission charities are permitted to work in this way. The RCP has its own strict criteria for partnership eligibility, including a corporate sponsorship policy. Central to this policy is the requirement for pharmaceutical companies to be fully compliant with the ABPI Code of Practice of which Novo Nordisk now falls short.
We are committed to robust governance in this area to ensure that funding from corporate partners does not influence RCP decisions or decision makers. The names of all major sponsors are published in our annual report and funding from the pharmaceutical sector is declared on the ABPI disclosure portal and on all project-related materials.