Healthcare professional status
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Laws and codes of conduct
Article 86 in the EU Directive 2001/83/EC lists the prohibition of advertising and promotion of prescription-only medicines or products to the general public. These legal provisions are included in the country codes of conduct and guidelines for the promotion of medicines. We therefore inform you that European as well as international codes and regulations will be in full effect during IAS 2021 – the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science.
For more information about each code, please click on the following links:
- International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)
- IFPMA/ EFPIA/ PhRMA Joint Guidance on Virtual International Medical Congresses Impacted by COVID-19
- European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA)
- Association of Voluntary Self-Regulation for the Pharmaceutical Industry(FSA – “Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle für die Arzneimittelindustrie e.V.”)
- European Accreditation Council for CME (EACCME)
These codes prohibit the advertising of prescription-only medicines or products to the general public. Therefore, only healthcare professionals and industry representatives may be exposed to advertising for prescription-only medicines or products.
As a multidisciplinary audience will be attending IAS 2021 and to ensure compliance with the above regulations, the IAS Secretariat will assign different virtual access rights to healthcare professionals (HCPs), non-healthcare professionals (non-HCPs) and industry representatives.
Healthcare professionals are defined as:
Any person who is of the medical, dental, pharmacy or nursing professions or any other person who, in the course of their professional activities, may prescribe, purchase, supply, recommend or administer a medicinal product. For avoidance of doubt, the definition of HCP includes: any official or employee of a government agency or other organization (whether in the public or private sector) who may prescribe, purchase, supply or administer medicinal products; and any employee of a company whose primary occupation is that of a practicing HCP.
Industry representatives are defined as:
Pharmaceutical company staff (including agency staff and technical contractors supporting promotional activities on the virtual conference platform) other than healthcare professionals employed by a pharmaceutical company.
Non-healthcare professionals are defined as:
Any person who is not qualified as an healthcare professional or industry representative as per the above definition (including wholesalers or distributor of medicinal products, patient organization representatives and media).
Self-declaration of status
All registered attendees will be asked to declare their HCP, non-HCP or industry representative status prior to the conference.
Depending on the status declared on their conference profile, attendees will be given specific access rights to the IAS 2021 Virtual Conference Platform.
The full IAS 2021 Scientific Programme, e-posters area and industry sessions organized by companies not promoting prescription-only medicines or products will be open to all participants.
Access to the exhibition
The exhibition will be open to all registered delegates.
However, access to content promoting prescription-only medicines or products on the exhibition booths will be strictly restricted to healthcare professionals and industry representatives.
Non-HCPs will have no access to content promoting prescription-only medicines or products under any circumstances.
Access to industry sessions
Industry sessions organized by companies not promoting prescription-only medicines or products will be open to all participants.
However, satellite symposiaSatellite symposia presenting data on the development, research or other issues related to prescription-only medicines or products will be restricted to healthcare professionals and industry representatives.