We have known for awhile that the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) tracks and assesses industry events for compliance with the EFPIA code. We have also known about Eucomed’s Ethical MedTech, which has a similar system in place for conferences in Europe. Now, however, Eucomed has started to analyze United States conferences, under the radar.
EFPIA e4ethics
Through e4ethics, EFPIA “supports monitoring of multinational events in Europe, by pre-assessing events with regard to the EFPIA HCP Code” and that companies who belong to EFPIA are encouraged to consult e4ethics and should be mindful of the applicable rules and provisions when deciding whether to sponsor, participate in, or collaborate in, an event.
EFPIA initially focused on major international events taking place in Europe (i.e., events in which healthcare professionals of more than five countries take part) and which are expected to attract a significant number of participants. The pre-assessments all include the following aspects:
- Scientific program schedule/structure – the program should show that the event as a true scientific purpose;
- Venue and exhibition area – the venue must be conducive to the main purpose of the event (i.e., no venues known for their entertainment facilities);
- Hospitality provided (directly or indirectly) – hospitality shall be limited to travel, accommodation, registration fees and meal, and may not be extended beyond the duration of the event.
- Other activities – hospitality shall not include sponsoring or organizing any entertainment, sporting, or leisure events
- Accompanying persons – hospitality shall only include those who qualify as participants in their own right.
Conclusions of the pre-assessment are posted online on the e4ethics website, with a color code signaling the success of the pre-assessment. For each event, the following information is published: Name/title of the event; name of the scientific/medical society; venue; city; country; starting and ending dates of the event; approximate number of healthcare professionals attending; specialty; and a link to the event’s website.
Eucomed Ethical MedTech
Eucomed is the the European medical device manufacturers association, and supports a platform, Ethical MedTech, that is dedicated to ethics and compliance projects in the European MedTech industry. Ethical MedTech is a conference vetting system that reviews the compliance of third-party educations conferences with both the Eucomed Code of Ethical Business Practice and Mecomed Code of Business Practice to determine the appropriateness for companies that are members of Eucomed and Mecomed to sponsor healthcare professionals to participate in such conferences.
The conference vetting system is a “centralized decision-making system that encourages transparency and consistency in medical conferences and alleviates the complex administrative burden previously faced by Eucomed and Mecomed members, who were constrained to make their own determination on whether or not a conference is compliant with the Codes.”
Additionally, decisions rendered by the Conference Vetting System Compliance Officer are binding on Eucomed and Mecomed members, meaning that members may not sponsor or cover expenses of healthcare professionals to attend a third-party conference that is found to be not compliant.
Eucomed uses similar assessment criteria as e4ethics, including evaluating: the conference program, the geographic location and conference venue facility, the hospitality and accommodations, other attendees (i.e., spouses, family, guests), entertainment, and communication support.
Now Coming to the United States?
Recently, however, United States organizations have found their conferences held in the United States to be examined under the Ethical MedTech rules and regulations. While it has long been discussed that evaluations of wholly-American conferences by these groups, it has taken some in industry by surprise that it has already started, and not many know about it.
While it is still relatively early on, it is hard to fully grasp what this means for United States conferences. What affect will a “non compliant” conference have on attendance levels, sponsorship availabilities, and venue restrictions? These are questions event organizers have long thought about and considered, but are now having to confront reality and make decisions.