New guidelines were released on Friday by PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) and they prohibit drug makers from giving out pens as well as other “non-educational” items to doctor’s offices and their staff.

In 2002 the PhRMA Code was put in place as an ongoing effort to ensure that pharmaceutical marketing practices comply with the highest ethical standards. Several marketing practices have come under fire over the last couple of years that were not addresses in the 2002 Code. On Friday, several additions were made that will take effect in January 2009.

The new Code:

• Prohibits distribution of non-educational items (such as pens, mugs and other “reminder” objects typically adorned with a company or product logo) to healthcare providers and their staff. The Code acknowledges that such items, even though of minimal value, “may foster misperceptions that company interactions with healthcare professionals are not based on informing them about medical and scientific issues.”

• Prohibits company sales representatives from providing restaurant meals to healthcare professionals, but allows them to provide occasional meals in healthcare professionals’ offices in conjunction with informational presentations. The Code also reaffirms and strengthens previous statements that companies should not provide any entertainment or recreational benefits to healthcare professionals.

• Includes new provisions that require companies to ensure that their representatives are sufficiently trained about applicable laws, regulations and industry codes of practice – including this Code – that govern interactions with healthcare professionals. Companies are also asked to assess their representatives periodically and to take appropriate action if they fail to comply with relevant standards of conduct.

• Provides that each company will state its intentions to abide by the Code and that company CEOs and Compliance Officers will certify each year that they have processes in place to comply, a process patterned after the concept of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance mechanisms.

The times they are a-changin’…