Code of Conduct - Question & Answers

6. Donations - October 2005
 
Question 1:
I have two questions :

1- If a pharmaceutical company makes a donation to a physician's association to support one of their events, can that company's representatives or head office employees attend, on the association's invitation, to the event in question? Only the representatives/employees of this company would attend.

2- A pharmaceutical company makes a donation to a physician's association to support one of their events and the association invites 2 employees of the donating company to sit at a table where the other guests would be determined by the association. Can we accept the invitation?

Response:
The response addresses both submitted questions: Rx&D member companies must respect the spirit and the letter of the Code of Conduct. One of the principles of the Code is not to pay to get access to health care professionals. It is important that any undertaken action must respect all the regulations set in the Code of Conduct. Section 6 of the Code deals with questions surrounding contributions. Section 7A of the Code refers to questions surrounding gifts. Section 7B deals with questions surrounding the aspect of hospitality and/or interactions with health care professionals. In respect to interpretation of the Code, health care professionals are defined as “individuals who are currently practicing medicine, nursing or dispensing medicines in Canada.”

Please note the answer above assumes that this is a social event. However, if this is a CHE event, Section 4A would apply.

Question 2:
Historically, a pharmaceutical company has always sponsored and organized a service centre luncheon for invited guests at an annual conference for healthcare professionals. The guests are selected attendees-healthcare professionals of the conference. The pharmaceutical company makes the selection of the guests. These guests have always appreciated the hot buffet lunches and the opportunity to have a place to sit down for a period of time before resuming a very busy and hectic schedule of medical seminars and workshops at the conference.

This event has always been organized with the permission of the Executive Committee of the Conference with the understanding that the pharmaceutical company would make the attempt to control the number of people in attendance.

We would appreciate to know whether this event contravenes any disposition of the Rx&D Code of conduct?

Response:
The Code has at least two sections which give an indication that the proposed activity may be in contravention. However, it is not clear if a company representative would also attend the luncheon. The following sections should be respected:

Under Donation, section 6.1.3. “Companies must never provide a donation, directly or indirectly, in order to have access to a health care professional”.

Under the Hospitality section 7B.1.3.i, “Since the purpose of social interaction is enhancing the business relationship, any hospitality offered must be carried out within small groups, of a size that would lend itself to achieving the stated purpose, and which can be justified if subjected to professional and public scrutiny. A grouping of three customers to one pharmaceutical representative is considered acceptable. Those numbers cannot be magnified to result in larger groupings.

In the event that the function is associated with a CHE program, Section 4A.3.4 would apply.

Question 3:
I work with the Canadian X Society. We are presently arranging several of our annual events. These include an educational program & special lecture (as part of a conference), a number of meetings and our annual members' Banquet. We solicit sponsorship from the pharmaceutical industry for these events and in return for sponsorship offer signage at the event, acknowledgement in the program and complimentary tickets for the Banquet. One of the pharmaceutical companies indicated that the pharma reps are not allowed to attend a physician's event where the physicians' spouses are present. I indicated that, having read the guidelines, I thought that the representatives were not allowed to bring spouses to such events. Have I misunderstood? Could you give me a clear interpretation? Our annual Banquet will be attended mainly by our Physician members, however, being allowed to bring a guest, some of the members (physicians) will bring their spouses. Does this mean that the Pharmaceutical reps should not attend our banquet?

Response:
Please refer to Section 6 of the Code. In your description of the event, careful consideration should be given to Sub-Section 6.1.2 and 6.1.3.