Astrazeneca Task Force

Astrazeneca are a global pharmaceutical company. However on January the 17th 2009 the Medicines and Health care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) complained about a Zoladex advertisement issued by Astrazeneca UK Limited which had appeared in the Pharmaceutical Journal.

Pharamceutical companies in the UK comply with the codes of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) . This is the trade association for a vast majority of companies in the UK producing prescription medicines for human use, supplying 80% of the medicines used through the National Health Service.

The MHRA alleged that the reference in the advertisement by Astrazeneca about the MHRA was in breach of clause 9.5 of the code. Astrazeneca's response to these allegations was an unreserved apology to the MHRA, and that the breach of clause 9.5 of the code was a genuine error. This issue came to light when a complaint was registered on the 27th of January and the case was marked completed on the 24th of February 2009.

This is one type of issue that face large Pharmaceutical companies, which is why roles and responsibilities are assigned to successfully manage issues that may arise.

These are the members of the Astrazeneca task force:

• Philippa Rodriguez- President of Astrazeneca UK
• Simon Moore- Head of UK Corporate Communications
  
• Samantha Pearce- Specialist care director UK (Leading over 200 staff across the UK who manage the sales and marketing of commercial brands used in specialist care therapy.)
  
• Pinder Sahota- Primary Care Director ( He is responsible for primary care field force, respiratory and cardiovascular marketing and established brand marketing.)
• Beatrice Ronsle-Nadaud- Finance Director (She is responsible for finance, I.T, supply chain and all insight and analytical activity.)
• Kieth Wilson- HR Director (He is responsible for employee relations, HR administration and HR Business partner.)
• Guy Yeoman- Medical and Regulatory Affairs Director ( He is responsible for negotiating between businesses and the stockholder to ensure the medicines reach the consumers.)
• Luke Talbutt- Legal and Corporate Affairs Director (He is responsible for legal, compliance, government affairs and communications within UK marketing communications. Overall with his team their job is to safeguard the reputation of Astrazeneca.)
• Pete Digger- Government Affairs team leader
• Martin Coones- Scottish Affairs Manager
• Audrey Wernaut- External Affairs Manager
• Saj Shah- Head of Legal UK Marketing Company