EDMA and Eucomed Adopt Code of Business Practice Brings Changes to Medical Congresses

By Thomas Sullivan – Policy & Medicine
Members of both the European Diagnostic Manufacturers Association (EDMA) and the European Medical Technology Industry (Eucomed) approved a new Code of Ethical Business Practice. Both associations are members of MedTech Europe who are working to set high ethical standards for the medical technology industry all throughout Europe.
This new Code will replace the EDMA and Eucomed codes of business practice and will be known as the MedTech Europe Code of Business Practice. This decision to adopt a common and wide-reaching code was prompted by the fact that EDMA and Eucomed each had different codes, which created inconsistencies in the rules that were applied to the industry. Once EDMA and Eucomed began to heavily collaborate, both organizations saw the need to align their codes to create greater consistency industry-wide.
The new Code will regulate all aspects of industry’s relationship with Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) and Healthcare Organizations (HCOs), and will introduce a common independent enforcement mechanism.
The new code, establishing the new minimum standard by which industry members operate in Europe, will become binding for EDMA and Eucomed members by January 1, 2017, and the ban on direct sponsorship for doctors begins January 1, 2018.
Lisa Boch-Anderson, MedTech Europe’s communications director, claims that the new Code will regulate all aspects of relationships with medical professionals. Boch-Anderson stated that MedTech Europe will be taking transparency to a new level, “we will be banning direct sponsorship of medical professionals’ being sent to events. The pharmaceutical sector has introduced transparency, but we opted for transparency plus – not only making it transparent, but ending direct sponsorship all together.”

To read the article by Thomas Sullivan

To read the new MedTech Europe Code of Ethical Business Practice