BCD Meetings Unit Launches Pharma Code Compliance Team

BCD Meetings & Incentives last week launched an EMEA-wide Pharmaceutical Code Compliance Team to reassure clients it operates within the strict requirements governing meetings staged by pharmaceutical companies for healthcare professionals.

Clients from the sector account for more than 40 percent of BCD M&I's business in the EMEA region. In recent months, individual countries within Europe have implemented a tightening of guidelines introduced at the European level in 2007. These govern how pharmaceutical companies engage with healthcare professionals not only through meetings, but also through advertising and other communications. A handful of countries, including Italy, have elected to enforce the rules through legislation, but most states are operating voluntary codes of practice instead.

Managing director Shaun Casey said the compliance team has created standard operating procedures for 20 countries in Europe. The objective of the team is to understand the codes of practice or legislation in each of those countries and ensure their meetings proposals conform to them. It also ensures that all communications issued to healthcare professionals on behalf of clients are compliant.

BCD M&I is not charging for the work done by its compliance team in the hope that this will give it a competitive advantage. "If a third-party agency breaches one of the codes of practice, it is the agency's client that takes responsibility," said Casey. "In some countries, the agencies themselves have to be certified. The biggest challenge for a client therefore, is choosing an agency it can trust to act in a compliant manner."

The newly tightened guidelines relate to meetings primarily by outlining how much pharmaceutical companies can spend on events and how much time at an event may be devoted to leisure activities. The guidelines call for an appropriate level of hospitality, which should not be "extravagant." Since this is ambiguous, many pharmaceutical companies have published specifications for how much can be spent per delegate on, for example, per diems or meals.

Casey said that following the guidelines is a complex undertaking because they are frequently altered and reinterpreted throughout Europe. Pharmaceutical companies are anxious not to make mistakes because in several countries those who transgress are named and shamed. "On average, the U.K. pharmaceutical industry is notified of a couple of meetings-related breaches every month," he said.

BCD M&I is offering clients the chance to audit the agency's compliance team and, if they wish, to pay for the audit. In addition, BCD M&I is offering clients the services of an independent consultant who can train pharmaceutical companies to ensure their meetings for healthcare professionals are compliant.

BCD M&I formed the team as part of a pan-European restructuring, replacing its previous national structure. Casey said his agency also is looking to hire a head of strategic communications whose job will be to help clients understand the objectives of their meetings, and whether those objectives are better served through face-to-face events or virtual alternatives. "Will delegates want to meet face to face in the future?" asked Casey. "The recession is changing the way clients want to work."