Key Takeaways
- The Medical Council of India's Code of Ethics restricts gifts, hospitality and sponsored events for healthcare professionals — pharma launches must be designed within this framework
- HCP (healthcare professional) events have specific compliance requirements: content must be educational or clinical, hospitality must be reasonable and directly associated with the event
- Medical advisory boards (MABs) and continuing medical education (CME) formats have different compliance profiles from promotional launch events — understand which format your event is before briefing the production
- Documentation of compliance (attendance records, content approval, hospitality itemisation) is a production deliverable at pharma events
- International pharma companies operating in India also apply their home-country compliance standards — typically stricter than MCI guidelines
The regulatory framework
The Medical Council of India's Code of Ethics Regulations 2002 and subsequent amendments govern how pharmaceutical companies can interact with healthcare professionals at events. The key provisions: pharmaceutical companies cannot give gifts to HCPs; hospitality provided at events must be reasonable, not extravagant, and directly associated with the event's educational purpose; CME events may be sponsored but content must not be promotional; and HCP attendance at events in non-Indian locations requires specific documentation. For production companies, this means: venue quality must be appropriate but not luxurious, hospitality must be documented as event-related, and any content presented must have been reviewed and approved through the pharma company's medical affairs process before being shown at the event.
The HCP event format
A pharmaceutical product launch for HCPs (doctors, pharmacists, hospital administrators) is not a standard corporate event with pharmaceutical branding. It is a medical education event that introduces a new therapeutic option in a clinical context. The programme structure: a scientific presentation on the disease area and unmet medical need (delivered by a KOL — key opinion leader, typically a respected clinician); a clinical data presentation for the new product (efficacy, safety, dosing); a case study session; and a facilitated Q&A. The production supports this format: a stage configured for clinical presentation (podium, data screen large enough to show patient data graphs clearly, IMAG for the speaker) and an audience seating arrangement appropriate for the expected HCP attendance (typically 50–300 per event).
Documentation as a production deliverable
At pharma events, the production company must provide documentation of: attendance (signed attendance register for CME credit purposes), content used (approved content list with version numbers), hospitality provided (itemised by category — breakfast, lunch, evening refreshments — with per-head costs), and any remuneration paid to speakers or KOLs. This documentation is submitted to the pharma company's compliance team within 48 hours of the event. It is not an administrative afterthought — it is a legal compliance requirement. Production companies working in the pharma event space must have a documentation process that generates this material as a standard deliverable.