Health Law Alert: PhRMA Issues New Marketing Code Effective January 2009

The following is excerpted from a press release issued by

PhRMA.

Reflecting the continuing commitment of America's

pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies to pursue

policies and practices that best serve the needs of patients

and the healthcare community, the Pharmaceutical Research and

Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Board of Directors has adopted

measures to enhance the PhRMA Code on Interactions with

Healthcare Professionals.

The newly revised PhRMA Code, which builds on improvements

already made in the previous 2002 version, is part of an

ongoing effort to ensure that pharmaceutical marketing

practices comply with the highest ethical standards.

[...]

Among its changes, the revised Code:

Prohibits distribution of non-educational items (such as

pens, mugs and other "reminder" objects typically

adorned with a company or product logo) to healthcare

providers and their staff. The Code acknowledges that such

items, even though of minimal value, "may foster

misperceptions that company interactions with healthcare

professionals are not based on informing them about medical

and scientific issues."

Prohibits company sales representatives from providing

restaurant meals to healthcare professionals, but allows them

to provide occasional meals in healthcare professionals'

offices in conjunction with informational presentations. The

Code also reaffirms and strengthens previous statements that

companies should not provide any entertainment or

recreational benefits to healthcare professionals.

Includes new provisions that require companies to ensure

that their representatives are sufficiently trained about

applicable laws, regulations and industry codes of practice

- including this Code - that govern interactions

with healthcare professionals. Companies are also asked to

assess their representatives periodically and to take

appropriate action if they fail to comply with relevant

standards of conduct.

Provides that each company will state its intentions to

abide by the Code and that company CEOs and Compliance

Officers will certify each year that they have processes in

place to comply, a process patterned after the concept of

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance mechanisms...