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Code of Practice

 

Mission Statement

To ease the lives of people with Parkinson's disease and their families and carers by promoting a constructive dialogue between science and society, and by encouraging and supporting the development of national PD organisations.

 

The EPDA’s relationship with its industrial partners and other potential partners

 

• Relationships between the EPDA and its industrial and any other potential partners should be based on equal partnership. Both sides must be prepared to move beyond a situation in which the EPDA is the passive recipients of money to one in which the two work together on policy development and practical initiatives, in the interests of all the member organisations
• Each party should remember that successful partnerships are those where both partners gain by making the effort to understand the internal culture and external pressures of the other
• The EPDA recognises that its industrial partners have to be profitable and have their own commercial agendas to which the EPDA is not obliged to conform. Funding will be declined if its application comprises the independence of the EPDA in any way

 

Funding

• The EPDA will use available funding so long as its independence is not compromised in any way, there is no conflict of interest and as long as the relationship with the funder is totally transparent. Contracts between the parties help in this respect
• The EPDA will not participate in relationships designed to give one company competitive advantage over another and favours the use of funding consortia of two or more companies from the same or other industries
• Joint research initiatives must ensure that independence is not unwittingly eroded
• The EPDA itself accepts funding from its industrial partners when:
  • It believes it will benefit the EPDA’s mission
  • It is satisfied that accepting the funds will not court adverse publicity
  • The funder does not try to coerce or over-influence EPDA’s policy either explicitly or implicitly
  • The details of EPDA’s funding and its sources are described in the Business Plan and in the Audited Report and Accounts to be found via the EPDA website www.epda.eu.com
• The EPDA expects its funders to adhere to relevant company, national and international codes of conduct, including the publication of their support for the EPDA

 

Product Endorsement

• The EPDA’s name must not be used to imply approval or endorsement of any of the funder’s products
• The EPDA encourages research into new treatments and the better application of existing therapies. However, it endorses no individual treatment over others
• We encourage active partnership between patient, carer and health professional and discussion of all available options to promote informed choice by the patient
• Where medication exists in more than one version we encourage the use, in communications by the EPDA with patients of either the scientific name or the several different brand names. Publications should show impartiality
• The EPDA supports the proper licensing of medicines and believes that the marketing of non-drug treatments to the public requires similar rules and standards.

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EPDA Contact details

Lizzie Graham, Secretary General
European Parkinson's Disease Association (EPDA)
4 Golding Road, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN13 3NJ. UK

Tel/Fax: +44 (0) 1732 457 683
email: lizzie@epda.eu.com