Roche - well, some of the best wines do now come from "down under"!

Poor Roche Australia. They have been accused of breaching their pharmaceutical industry's code of practice by spending tens of thousands of dollars on "wining and dining" doctors.

More than 200 specialist doctors were reportedly treated to meals at a number of restaurants in Sydney last year.

In one case, Roche spent more than $65,000 taking more than 200 top cancer specialists and others to dinner at the exclusive Guillaume at Bennelong, inside the Sydney Opera House. The dinner cost more than $200 a head.

The restaurant's "degustation menu" features "basil-infused tuna", sterling caviar, kingfish sashimi and the best of Australian and French wines.

The following night, Roche funded a dinner for a select gathering of specialists at the Boathouse, another leading harbourside restaurant, with 16 people dining at a cost of more than $2000, according to documents obtained by The Australian.

The meal featured snapper pie and nine bottles of wine, including a pinot noir worth $85 a bottle.

At a third meal in the private function room of the expensive Aria restaurant, Roche shelled out more than $4000 for 18 people to dine, including senior cancer doctors, some of their partners, and one child.

This meal included 13 bottles of wine, including seven bottles of 2002 Yering Station pinot noir costing $60 a bottle.

The pharmaceutical industry's code of conduct in Australia, which is administered by the industry body Medicines Australia, states company-sponsored meals should be "simple and modest".

A spokesman for the Australian Consumers Association, Gordon Renouf, says the industry's self-regulatory code has been ineffective in this case.

"It's very alarming when an industry such as this has a self-regulatory system which doesn't work," he said.

"Self-regulation is obviously a problem. We'd like to see government action to ensure that the code or alternative regulatory systems protect consumers and government revenue from unhealthy marketing practices."

Truly a "gravy train"!!

Sauce...sorry, source! More sauce.