Ethical Pharmaceutical Meetings

Pharmaceutical meetings are productive ways of conveying important technical information to the medical fraternity. Busy practitioners often find it difficult to set aside time at their clinics for industry representatives, and prefer to listen to presentations on new products and findings at venues away from their places of work. Speakers at pharmaceutical meetings may also be working doctors, making it necessary to have suitable and neutral venues at which peers can listen to actual experiences with new technologies. Senior doctors are particularly dependant on pharmaceutical meetings as an integral means of their continuing medical education. These are the major reasons for the convention of pharmaceutical meetings as a means of professional communication between sections of industry, medical practitioners, and consultants. Many sponsors of pharmaceutical meetings compete for the time and attention of doctors; with the result that the cream of the medical fraternity is careful about which invitations they accept.

The principles of ethical selling demand that pharmaceutical meetings are conducted with decorum. Sponsors must guard against turning these events into thinly disguised ways of unduly influencing prescription behavior. The industry is built on trust, and a sponsor who lavishes extraordinary hospitality on participating doctors is likely to be looked at askance, not just by leading members of the medical community, but by other sections of society, as well. Judgment matters, as much as resources and organizing abilities, when it comes to the best pharmaceutical meetings. These events may last for just an hour, as in the case of a brief presentation of a brand extension, or be spread over more than a day, as in the case of a presentation on a new technique, or a discussion on a complex subject with many controversial facets. There is a fine line to be drawn between catering to the basic needs of participating doctors, and abusing their attendance with garish and plush offerings, completely out of proportion to the technical information content on offer.

A single window solution is for an intending sponsor to use the services of a certified and fully resourced professional organizer of pharmaceutical meetings. Such an organization can take care of the myriad things which need to be coordinated for pharmaceutical meetings to run well, and use internal control systems to ensure that events are not staged in such an ostentatious manner that important doctors may take offence, or such that the image and credibility of a sponsor suffers. Not everyone is familiar with the conditions of the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) with respect to pharmaceutical meetings, but strict adherence to such guidelines pays off in the long run. Similarly, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has a code of conduct for pharmaceutical meetings, by which sponsors should abide in their own best interests.

The choice of venue is a primary decision required to be taken when all pharmaceutical meetings are first proposed. Luxury resorts and even entertainment complexes with facilities for gambling may offer tempting financial deals for off-season and off-peak hour events, but it is inappropriate to choose them for pharmaceutical meetings. Basic conference and presentation facilities should suffice for short presentations, and the lodgings in cases of overnight stays should be commensurate with the seriousness of such occasions. Money spent on deluxe amenities is likely to prove counter-productive with conscientious doctors, and would certainly violate the industry association code. The same thinking should apply to catering: regal banquets are never appropriate, and sponsors should not offer full meals when pharmaceutical meetings are brief with little information content. Finally, materials distributed for taking notes should not take forms of expensive gifts that can be interpreted as attempting to persuade prescription support for brands in ethically unacceptable ways.

The overall approach should be to arrange for participants which are adequate in terms of convenience, and which meet the norms of common courtesies, without giving any room for doubt that the sponsor seeks to undermine the professionalism of participating doctors in any way. Facilities and hospitality must be in proportion to the scientific value of information offered at pharmaceutical meetings. Professional organizations that arrange pharmaceutical meetings on a regular basis use standard operating procedures to ensure that these norms are met. They also have teams, separate from the ones making the arrangements, to check on compliance with relevant norms. Independent consultants with vast industry experience are used to certify that the organization has adequate systems and controls in place. The result is that sponsors can merely explain their requirements and objectives to these professional organizations, and then rely on them to arrange pharmaceutical meetings, which are informative, which the best doctors like to attend, and which build on corporate credibility, as well. Keeping large groups of doctors furnished with relevant technical information is crucial for optimal returns on research and development, and professionally run pharmaceutical meetings contribute to building sustainable competitive advantages.