Should Pharma/Implant Companies be allowed to Sponsor CME's?

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Should Pharma/Implant Companies be allowed to Sponsor CME's?

The recently introduced (and repealed) NMC Guidelines planned to ban any pharma or medical device company from directly or indirectly sponsoring any medical conference/CME. Further it planned to make it an offence for medical professionals to be attending any conference which has such sponsors. While the NMC Guidelines are at present repealed and pending ammendment, it brought up an important issue- Should Pharmceutical/Medical Device Companies be allowed to Sponsor CME's?

On the face of it, the reasoning is pretty obvious. There is a conflict of interest, that medical professionals will be influenced to favour certain brands/companies. But is the matter really that simple? Lets dive in a little deeper.

Q1: Are these CME's really required?

ABSOLUTELY. CME's are important for updating knowledge for medical professionals. They facilitate networking, problem solving and collaboration. Also, most state medical councils MANDATE doctors attends certain number of CME's every year in order to renew their medical licence.

Q2: Do the CME's need sponsorship?

YES. Organisation of a CME involves considerable costs. Apart from the major costs of venue and food, there are several other requirements. Hospitatlity of speakers, prizes, event planners, Banners to name a few.

Q3: What if the event is budgeted entirely on registration fees?

That would be a nightmare for oragnisers. For one, the registration fees for the CME's would have to be increased significantly compared to what it usually is. Second it would put a real financial burden on the organisers to be bring in the projected number of registrations for the event. If the registrations end up being lesser than estimated (likely considering the high registration fees) then that leaves the oraganisers in a real soup. Associations are likely to be apprehensive about taking such financial risks.

Q4: If the Doctors are the ones benfitting, they should be willing to pay up the high registration costs right?

Fair point. But what is the likely outcome going to be? Doctors attend CME's to improve their knowledge, skill and learn collectively. The ultimate aim is to improve patient outcomes. If the expenses of a doctor in the persuit of the profession is going to increase, then it is going to be reflected in increase in medical services costs, OPD consultation fees etc.

Q5: What do you think will happen if the rule actually does come into force?

There will be a drastic decrease in the number of conferences/CME's being conducted. The participtation in CME's will plummet drastically due to the high registration fees. The quality of CME's and conferences would deteriorate, because participation would become more about affordability than matter.

Q6: As you figured out already probably im not really in favour of this rule. So the arguement im going to hear for sure from the other camp would be the conflict of interest and Bias it creates for certain pharma companies. But does it really?

Pharma companies/medical device companies choose to sponsor conferences in exchange for being allowed to keep stalls/hoardings to display their products. How is that really different from Pepsi running a commercial on tv? Pharma companies should have the right to advertise their products.

In India, advertising of most medicines and medical devices is NOT ALLOWED in public forums like on television or newspaper articles. There is merit in that law because it aims to prevent pharma companies targetting the common man who may not have the medical knowledge to understand the product or review its data. But what are the avenues left for pharma companies to be able to advertise their products?

Imagine this. You have opened a pharmaceutical company and discovered a new drug which genuinely improves patient outcomes for a condition. You have the studies and results to prove it. But how do you then get the word out about it? You cant advertise it on TV, newspaper. You cant organise any event where doctors would be present to discuss its studies. You cant even put up a hoarding at a conference for a doctors to see it. Thats one drug, and one medical condition. Now imagine a scenario that would be applicable in the real world where there thousands of different medical conditions and drugs, with advances and innovation happening every year.

Q7: All of the above points could be ignored, if the answer to this one question was yes: Do you think this will BENEFIT PATIENTS?

In my opinion, No. Lesser CME's, Lesser participation, Lesser knowledge sharing, Increased doctors charges, and eventually a decrease in medical research, medical innovation, and medical advancement.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Like, Share & maybe even discuss with a colleague.

#medicallaw #doctors #medicolegal #medlegal #CME #pharma #medical