Industry bodies issue guidance on virtual and hybrid meetings by medical societies

Industry bodies issue guidance on virtual and hybrid meetings by medical societies

IFPMA, EFPIA and PhRMA have updated their joint guidance for virtual medical society meetings

The guidance, focused on medical society virtual / hybrid meetings can be seen here in more detail with a Q&A document here.

3Sixty thoughts: 

More very welcome guidance upgraded since the 2020 issue now including Hybrid meetings which are expected, by industry and societies, to be the dominant form of “congress” moving forward.

What caught our eye?

1. The new (ish) IFPMA ethos was reinforced in the document. Why do we think this is important? Well, the Ethos outlines a code based not solely on rules but one framed in; integrity, values and principles. The result? more subjective decision making o identify is something the right thing to do! If your organisation has not already defined how this impacts the part you play in the creation and planning of meetings and ensured your teams are ready then you’re behind the game … 

2.  Guidance is applied to international meetings, defined as medical associations/societies involving HCPs from multiple countries. National meetings are not “in-scope” we tend to use the Congress Vetting System (CVS) criteria when determining what is a national and international medical society meeting.

3. The code (international, regional or national) still applies even if they were written with in-person meetings in mind. Note sections on an events educational value, medicine promotion, certification (see ABPI clause 8 to see how the UK handles this), destination and venue selection in the case of in-person formats as a few examples of how to still apply the code. Reminder, every meeting supported by industry must include a written rationale outlining the reason industry is supporting a meeting in the rush to plan the tactic this can be overlooked.

4. The route to apply the right code and label to a meeting has been strengthened, reminding industry not to rely on medical societies / congresses to determine the applicable code to a meeting but to take that into their own hands.  This is another reason why there should be a stronger link during planning between medical societies, industry and PCO’s pooling knowledge and communicating as a collective how the code applies to meetings.

 

 

MedTech Europe and EFPIA merge medical society congress vetting / assessment platforms

MedTech Europe and EFPIA merge medical society congress vetting / assessment platforms

MedTech Europe and EFPIA merge medical society congress vetting / assessment platforms

events  One of the significant features of healthcare and life science regulation is the need of those business partners, not directly guided by the code, to recognise that the code in a collateral way may impact them.

One such example is the vetting or assessment of independent Medical Society congress activities using metrics derived from the code.

 

Back story

For a number of years congresses have been vetted or assessed if you prefer, via independent solutions and platforms by both European trade / industry / regulatory bodies.

 Medical devices – MedTech Europe, Platform: CVS

Healthcare and life sciences (pharma) – EFPIA, Platform: e4ethics

Criteria differed between both organisations with some common threads.

 

What’s different?

Since 01 January 2022

The MedTech Europe (cvs) and EFPIA (e4ethics) platforms have now merged to be focus applications through the MedTech Europe platform.

MedTech Europe Application Website

So, what does this mean in more tangible terms?

  • Both platforms operate independently from EFPIA and MedTech Europe, via a common Compliance team, to ensure objectivity and independence in conference assessments.
  • e4ethics is aligned with the CVS criteria and approach, including the online proactive submissions by companies or congress organisers (Professional Congress Organisers as well as scientific societies).
  • The submission procedure and appeal process is identical for both systems.

The type of Events qualifying for review will remain different

  • For Events assessed under e4ethics, only those that qualify as major international Events taking place in the countries within the scope of the EFPIA Code, (Europe) will be reviewed. Events in which Healthcare Professionals coming from more than 5 countries may take part and which are expected to attract a significant number of participants (at least 500), will be considered (that means meetings outside Europe too) .

 On the other hand, within the CVS, international Events need to be reviewed when they are taking place within the MedTech Europe geographical scope. This includes:

    • Events attended by delegates coming from at least two countries of MedTech Europe geographical scope; and
    • Events taking place outside the MedTech Europe geographic area, attended by delegates who are HCPs registered and practicing in the MedTech geographical area.

 How do I learn more about the vetting / assessment solutions?

Information on MedTech Europe, CVS approach: Link

Information on EFPA, e4ethics approach: Link

 

Note: the comments within this bog post are those of 3Sity Event Consulting – we recommend viewing the links provided before using this information to execute any business decisions.  

 

 

 

Back catalog of thought leadership and news articles

Back catalog of thought leadership and news articles

Where can you find over 130 blog posts, articles, opinion pieces, and help materials from 3Sixty and Healthcare Venues? 
The answer … regrettably, still on the old Healthcare Venues site. We are in the process of transferring and updating this content over the coming weeks to migrate to the new site. It will take us a little time. We are not lazy, just ready for rest, relaxation, and good company over the holiday period. While we do this please take a peek here hopefully there may be something of interest there to inspire you to create your own content. If we can help, let us know.
Our thought leadership strategy

Our thought leadership strategy

Developing Thought Leadership

At 3Sixty and Healthcare Venues we love thought leadership that can have a positive impact on the healthcare meetings eco-system. 

If you have a blog, white paper, or other content that can help create debate or provide a few answers to the challenges we all face then let us know. We can’t promise to support everything .. but we’ll try our best! 

We are also enthusiastic to support the development of content from our position as independent experts. We can provide observations or lengthier contributions if they fall within our interests and experiences. 

The type of topics that complement our knowledge base are: 

  • Development of meeting models
  • Creating peer partnerships 
  • Thoughts leadership: development of HCP educational journeys through meeting interactions 
  • Research; HCP trends, new meeting models
  • How meeting data can drive good decision making   
  • Meeting case studies 
  • Procurement of meeting solutions post-pandemic 

You can contact us via LinkedIn or the contacts us page on this website. 

3Sixty Explained

3Sixty Explained

About 3Sixty

We have a lot to say about 3Sixty and its explosive growth in the last two years. We have been honoured to collaborate with all actors in the healthcare meetings eco-system in developing strategies to deal with the changes brought about by the COVID pandemic.

We believe that there has never been a better time to be smarter, to seize the numerous opportunities in the evolving meetings marketplace.

Face-to-face, virtual, invest, divest, and everything in between are all on the table right now, a complex matrix of strategic and tactical decisions that must be made in order for your success to be realised.

That is what 3Sixty is all about: navigating your Matrix to become the most successful version of yourself.

Our New Website

Our New Website

“Mastering the Meetings Matrix”

When Warner Brothers imagined a return to the Matrix film series little did they know that they would be up against the power house (cough) that is 3Sixty Event Consulting …..

Why, read on …..

In 2019 we interrogated our vision, values, and ambitions and felt it was necessary to bring a clear personality to our meetings consultancy and compliance solutions.

Many flipcharts and post-it notes later (remember those) we found our destination.

“Mastering the Meetings Matrix” 

We felt that this single statement, represented by our lady with the VR goggles, circled all our activities linking vision and insight with the navigation of the matrix of challenges you tackle every day. This is the value we bring to the individuals and organisations with whom we work: experienced (old) heads who, with a soft touch and tougher one when required, guide people and organisations to a position where they can effectively identify, then manage their challenges and opportunities.  The goal? to emerge in a far better place than ever before.

“We support you manage your matrix of challenges and opportunities”

Early in 2020, we witnessed a surge in demand for our consulting services. Stakeholders from throughout the healthcare meetings eco-system, including corporate organisations, venues, medical societies, and agencies, realised they needed to reinvent their business when their strategic plans were ripped apart in a matter of weeks. Major decisions needed to be made and the creation of a new strategy to maximise the opportunity that the new meetings eco-system was presenting. Their own matrix had changed, and it had done so quickly.

As we applied our consultative solutions it became clear that our support was not only aligned to strategic decision making but also one of connectivity .. when supporting Company A we realised there was a mutual benefit to Company B and so on. Partnerships were now a much more credible strategy than pre-pandemic. For us our network could facilitate these partnership conversations.

So along with the help of Warner Brothers (thanks guys fantastic timing) a 2-year time period and the effects of a global pandemic we have merged our consultancy and healthcare venue solutions into one on-line presence.