Major pharmaceutical companies are taking steps to globalize their meetings management programs and are increasing the number of external education events they sponsor. The pharmaceutical industry, which typically has stayed on the forefront of meetings management strategies, continues to operate under strict internal guidelines and public scrutiny, analysts said.
Pharmaceutical meetings are a steady source of income for many meetings-related vendors, as product launches, drug and medical education, and training events are in consistent demand.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., based in New York, this year has taken steps to further develop its meetings management policy. The company completed an initial consolidation of its meetings spend in 2004 and is planning to implement a meetings technology tool in Europe, provided by OnVantage Inc. The company also will extend its meetings policy in Europe, said Phil Dunphy, director of global travel.
Connie Bocchieri, manager of group air and meeting services at Pfizer, said the company also has developed a standard contract addendum for hotels to streamline negotiations.
Hotel negotiations also are on the agenda for Swiss pharmaceutical corporation Novartis, which has American headquarters in East Hanover, N.J. The company aims to create a preferred meetings hotel chain deal this year and consolidate its meetings spend, according to executive director of business support services Paul Tomaszeski
(Meetings Today, Feb. 7).Many pharmaceutical companies are holding more external meetings, including sponsorship of continuing medical education, said Frank McVeigh, president and CEO of McVeigh Associates, a meeting and incentive management company that represents a number of major pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Merck & Co.
"CME is growing domestically and internationally," McVeigh said. However, continuing medical education providers must be certified, McVeigh said. "It's very strict rules and they are very general programs," he said. "These are very basic meetings."
Although pharmaceutical companies sponsor CME events, they are restricted from advertising their products or brand at the event, which makes meetings difficult to plan, he added. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education must certify any group that wants to offer CME.
Other meetings consultants in the pharmaceutical industry cited a growing need for CME assistance. Steve Some, president of Navigant Performance Group, said his company is looking for opportunities in CME programs
(Meetings Today, June 6). Some said 75 percent of NPG business comes from pharmaceutical and healthcare companies.
"As long as pharmaceutical companies continue to have their products approved and there's need for continual launches, training meetings and advisory boards, then we are seeing continual growth with our pharmaceutical and healthcare customers," Some said.
Some said he also is beginning to see more multinational requests for proposal from his customers.
NPG hopes to double the amount of CME business it manages during the next six to 12 months, and Some said the potential for growth is high.
Abbott Park, Ill.-based pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories holds meetings across the globe with anywhere from 20 to 2,000 attendees, said Lilian Brozek, manager of event marketing for Abbott's international division in a Webinar sponsored by OnVantage.
"We're not in the business of planning meetings, but we are so dependent on meetings to spread our word to get our marketing objectives accomplished," Brozek said.
Brozek said it is a constant challenge to follow purchasing regulations around pharmaceutical companies. "In addition to following the corporate guidelines enforced by procurement, we also have pharmaceutical guidelines that we have to follow and Sarbanes-Oxley guidelines that we have to abide by," she said.
Brozek said her department has quarterly training sessions on updates to pharmaceutical guidelines. The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries in 2002 adopted a set of ethical standards, called the PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals, that details permissible spending and marketing practices.
According to the code, if a pharmaceutical company holds presentations and discussions with physicians "meals (but no entertainment/recreational events) may be offered so long as they: (a) are modest as judged by local standards; and (b) occur in a venue and manner conducive to informational communication and provide scientific or educational value."
"We are trained quarterly on the updates as well as the latest interpretation of the pharmaceutical guidelines. A lot of this transparency has to be tracked and maintained," Brozek said. Abbott meeting managers partner with procurement to make sure they are in compliance with pharmaceutical regulations, she added.
"The official role of the department is to ensure that we comply with the official corporate guidelines. Since they are the only ones that are actually permitted to spend company funds, anything that we do or purchase or commit to has to be approved through them," Brozek said in the Webinar. "We actually work very closely with them to make sure they are comfortable with the vendors that we choose, with the criteria that we use to choose them, and since we're on a purchase order system, obviously they approve any funds before they leave our bank account."