8. Consultant Meetings
8.1.1
Where appropriate, Members may retain Stakeholders to perform professional services including, but not limited to, consulting meetings and advisory boards and all of the above being referred to as consultant meetings for the purpose of this section.
8.1.2
The purpose of consultant meetings is to advise Members on aspects of the development of a drug discovery to maturity (from pre to post launch), on various aspects of their business or to provide input when required to develop plans, policies, etc.1
[[1]]The focus of consultant meetings is to gather information from the participants and must not be used to promote a Member’s product. The intent of consultant meetings is to gain feedback and opinions from Stakeholders. The agenda needs to clearly reflect the purpose for the meeting.[[1]]
8.1.3
An advisory board consists of a continuous relationship with a limited group of Stakeholders that meet on multiple occasions during their mandate to advise Members on different aspects of their business.
8.1.4
A consultant meeting is an ad hoc meeting held with an individual or a group of expert Stakeholders where input is required on a specific aspect of the business.
8.2Standards
8.2.1
When entering into consultant meeting agreement, Members must ensure that:
- The purpose and objectives of the interaction are clearly defined in the initial correspondence related to the event or in the ongoing advisory relationship agreement;
- There is a written agreement confirming the purpose and objectives of the consultation and outlining the nature of the services to be provided in accordance with the requirements set out in Section 7 of this Code; and
- Remuneration must be in the form of an honorarium and reasonable travel, accommodation and out-of-pocket expenses where warranted, may be reimbursed in accordance with the requirements of Section 7 of this Code.
8.2.2
8.2.2.1
The number of consultant meetings must be limited. Members may only have a number of consultant meetings that is consistent with the need to gather scientific input or commercial guidance.
8.2.2.2
The formation of multiple advisory boards for a single product must be justifiable, for example, as a result of registered indications in different medical specialties. It may be justifiable to have multiple advisory boards where there are recognized differences in medical practice between provinces and regions.
8.2.2.3
Consultant meetings may not include more than twenty (20) individual consultants per meeting, excluding, chairs, presenters and facilitators.
8.2.3
8.2.3.1
Consultant meetings must be held in Canada. The only exception is those held in conjunction with international conferences (Section 10.2 of this Code) provided that no travel or accommodation expenses are to be paid by the Member convening the meeting. If the consultant meeting occurs before or after the international conference ends, the Member may reimburse the Stakeholder for room accommodations in conjunction with the consultant meeting.2
[[2]]Members cannot pay travel and accommodation for a Stakeholder that was not attending the international conference to join the consultant meeting.
It is acceptable to hold a consultant meeting, outside conference hours, the day before, the day after or at the beginning or the end of a conference day, as long as permitted by the conference organizers. Holding such a meeting 2 or 3 days before or after the conference would be in breach of the Code.[[2]]
8.2.3.2
Selected venue must be in accordance with Section 6.2 of this Code.
8.2.4
8.2.4.1
No social activity should be organized in conjunction with consultant meetings other than providing refreshments or a reasonable meal.
8.2.4.2
The guidelines with respect to travel and provision of meals and refreshments for Learning Programs set out in Sections 9.2.5 and 9.2.9 of this Code also apply to consultant meetings.
8.2.5
8.2.5.1
At least one person from the Canadian Members’ head office must be present to guide the meeting discussion. Involvement of sales representatives and their direct supervisors in the meeting is prohibited.3
[[3]]It is acceptable for VP sales and sales directors, or their equivalents, to attend consultant meetings as long as there is at least one degree of separation between the sales representatives and this Member employee. Under no circumstances may field based sales district managers attend consultant meetings.
If requested by the Member Canadian head office, sales representatives are allowed to recommend participants and to distribute invitations.[[3]]
8.2.6
8.2.6.1
A consultant meeting may be organized by a Members’ global head office and/or an International affiliate. If held outside of Canada, these consultant meetings may include a maximum of ten (10) Canadian Health Care Professionals, per indication, per brand, per year. Honorarium and reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses may be provided in accordance with Section 8.2 of this Code. As indicated in Section 8.2.1 above, written agreements should be entered into for these meetings as well.