Lesson 2: The More Things Change…
The French journalist and novelist, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, is credited with coining the phrase, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” For anyone who has attended multiple compliance conferences in the last five years, his words certainly ring true. Terms like “partnering with the business,” “tone from the top,” and “third-party risks” are still staples during conference presentations and this year’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Compliance Congress was no exception. For good reason.
As an example, the Compliance 3.0 presentation on Day 2 of the conference began with one panelist expressing his concern that “we still have to fight for a seat at the table.” In other words, while the concept has been bandied about for years now, the reality is that raising compliance to the organizational level of respect it requires to affect true behavior change is still a struggle. He and his co-presenters emphasized the need to not only find that seat alongside the businesses but truly understand their business policies as well as what they do and who they are. As another presenter put it, “bring value to the business as a compliance representative, educate them every step of the way, and help them educate their people.” She added, “when they get to the point where they are doing it themselves, that’s nirvana.”
Not surprisingly, the need to train and manage third-party vendors continues to be stressed. In the session covering the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, one government representative even delved into the need to extend the corporation’s culture to the vendors. She added “you really need to know your third-party vendors and they need to understand you. You need to know who it is that is making payments on your behalf.” The presenters in the Third-Party Lifecycle Management session agreed, citing the need to “have vendors take the same training that is rolled out for your employees. Treat them as partners and make sure they understand the risks involved. They are more likely to care about being compliant if they feel like a partner and if they will be held responsible.”
As with the conversation and debate over an “ethics-based approach to compliance,” concepts like “tone from the top,” “partnering with the business,” and “third-party risks” warrant our focus and consideration simply because they are that relevant and critical. Industry conferences offer the valuable opportunity to hear our peers share their latest insights and success stories around the themes that seem to drive the conversation. While the world of life sciences compliance is evolving, in some cases, the more things change, the more they stay the same…at least at the compliance conferences.
Thanks for reading!
Sean Murphy
Editor
Compliance Training Intelligence Blog