18 June 2019 - Deborah Wilkes
More than 300 people celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB) at a special event on 17 June 2019.
Regulators, policymakers, healthcare professionals, industry executives and others from around the world attended the Centenary Gala Event in London.
In June 1919, the founding members of the Association of Manufacturers of British Proprietaries met at the Cannon Street Hotel in London. They planned to discuss how to respond to the threat of legislation on proprietary medicines advertising.
Notes for the meeting recorded that Sir William Glyn-Jones spoke on the necessity for an organisation to be established. Glyn-Jones was chairman of the Proprietary Articles Trade Association, Secretary of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and a former Liberal member of parliament for Stepney.
The Association of Manufacturers of British Proprietaries changed its name to the Proprietary Association of Great Britain in 1936.
A world first
In the same year, the PAGB developed the world's first self-regulatory advertising code. The industry association says the guiding principles of this code "still underpin PAGB's Code and guidance in 2019".
Over the years, the PAGB's influence extended beyond advertising to medicines regulation, exports and even special war measures. In the 1940s, the PAGB was entrusted with special responsibilities around the supply of sugar, starch, tin and paper. It managed the allocation of alcohol until 1951.
Raising profile of self-care
More recently, the PAGB has worked to cut red tape, defended resale price maintenance for many years, shaped legislation from domestic and European Union parliaments, and raised the profile of self-care.
Looking back on its achievements, the PAGB highlights the Better Regulation of Medicines Initiative (BROMI) in 2005 as well as its contribution to streamlining the process for reclassifying the legal status of medicines.
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