Pharma Forums Have Special Needs, Too

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  stevewillson06/04/08 Report as spam
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  A bit cynical?

  I have a slightly diiferent view on this. First, it seems entirely reasonable that a conference facility would train it's employees to address the needs of their guests, whomever they are.
  
  As for the comment on training staff as to what can be billed to the company vs. what a physician participant pays for themselves, this is a good way to avoid any conflicts with the guidelines.
  
  Finally, PR has provided a good environment for Pharma manufacturing. To be rewarded by having the industry support local businesses is, in itself, good business. Would you rather they go to New York, where the government has been openly hostile, whether justified or not?
  
  There's lots to criticize the Pharma industry about without resporting to cynical arguments.

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  David P Hamilton06/09/08 Report as spam
  2

  Re: A bit cynical?

  Steve, I just saw your comment, so apologies for the delay getting back to you. Yes, I plead guilty to skewing to the cynical side here. Of course, pharma has to hold meetings, and sure, it's probably better that they head wherever they're most comfortable.
  
  On the other hand, I'd be very curious to know if anyone within the industry has ever gotten in hot water for violating those PhRMA guidelines. I'm also completely agnostic about where pharma chooses to hold its meetings, although they'd probably save their shareholders some money if they stayed in the NY-NJ area instead of jetting off to Puerto Rico. I'm always tickled when industry insists that its crucial business-strategy sessions absolutely have to be held at ski or island resorts instead of, say, South Brunswick.
  
  I'd also add that the PharmExec article itself practically encourages such cynicism. Check out the lead paragraph of the Puerto Rico story:
  
  

  Picture it: A weekday evening in the mahogany-paneled lobby of the El San Juan Hotel in Puerto Rico. A hotel where just that afternoon you attended a highly professional multi-media presentation in a sedate, well-appointed meeting room.
  
  A salsa band starts to play. The music is such it seems everyone in the lobby is suddenly up and moving to the Latin beat?swirling forward and backwards, swiveling and spinning across the rose-colored marble floor. And before you know it, you are, too. The business meeting is long forgotten. And for the first time in years, you are dancing with your heart instead of your feet.