Drug Industry Bans Most Promotional Products
This new, further-reaching PhRMA code will take effect in January 2009. Under the terms of this voluntary code, all noneducational items—including practice-related items of minimal value, such as pens, notepads, mugs and similar reminder items—should not be offered to health-care professionals or members of their staff, even if they are accompanied by patient or physician educational materials. However, PhRMA will still support the distribution of items designed primarily for the education of patients or health-care professionals if the items are not of substantial value ($100 or less) and do not have value to the health-care professional outside of his or her professional responsibilities. “While on one hand I applaud PhRMA for recognizing the value of promotional products in effectively keeping brand message top of mind, quite frankly, if my doctor is going to be influenced by a pen, a pad of paper or any other logoed item of minimal value at the risk of his or her professional reputation, I want another doctor,” said Steve Slagle, CAE, president and CEO of PPAI. “We are all exposed to advertising messages every day. I find it hard to believe that educated and sophisticated professionals in the health-care field must be isolated from these logoed items to ensure that they provide unbiased patient care,” he continued. “The modifications to this code are a knee-jerk reaction to the pressure being placed on the pharmaceutical industry to reform many of its marketing practices including trips, excessive honorariums and elaborate gifts. To put essential office tools and medically relevant logoed items in the same category as junkets and banquets makes no sense at all,” Slagle concluded.
- Companies:
- PPAI