Pfizer has been given a rare public reprimand by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry after being found in breach of the industry's code of conduct, says a report in the British Medical Journal.

The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, which monitors complaints about drug companies, found that Pfizer had been using a team of medical liaison executives to promote unlicensed medicines and to promote off-licence indications for other products.

Pfizer accepted that it had breached the code in respect of failing to maintain high standards but appealed against the other rulings of breaches of the code, one of which was successful.

The complaint was about the team of regionally based medical liaison executives. Only three of the 16 medical liaison executives were medically qualified. Although their function was to provide medical information to doctors and other health professionals, it was alleged they were canvassing support for Pfizer's products among doctors, pharmaceutical advisers, formulary committees and "any member of the NHS who could influence prescribing."

The complainants said that this was being achieved through sharing of data on file and, significantly, data that were off-licence. They also claimed that a specific executive responsibility was to promote unlicensed products, such as the antipsychotic ziprasidone and off-licence indications for drugs such as atorvastatin, sildenafil, and gabapentin.

In its ruling the authority said that "the arrangements brought discredit upon, and reduced confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry."

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's board of management decided that it was "a serious matter which necessitated further action." In addition to the reprimand, contained in the authority's February 2002 review, the board requested that the authority carried out an audit of the company's medical liaison function and that the audit recommendations be implemented by Pfizer.

The complaint, although anonymous, was from a group claiming to be employees of Pfizer, although the authority does not carry out checks to verify the identity of complainants.

The authority said it was concerned that the description of the medical liaison executives' activities "gave the impression that the executives were doing more than responding to requests for information from health professionals and others."

A spokesperson for Pfizer said: "While we accept the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry ruling, there was never any intention of breaching the code of practice.''