The 14th Annual Pharmaceutical Compliance Congress (PCC 2017) is just around the corner. Whether you work in Compliance, R&D, or Medical Affairs, this year’s conference has sessions for you. We’ll be there as well, catching up with friends and colleagues and learning the latest trends and best practices from industry and government professionals. Here are just a few of the sessions and content streams we have on our to-do list.
Preconference
If you’re there for the preconference sessions on Wednesday, we humbly suggest the session titled Accelerated Learning – Healthcare Compliance and Policy Applications. Dan O’Connor, Senior Vice President for PharmaCertify™, will join a panel of industry leaders and legal consultants in what promises to be a valuable primer for those new to the compliance function or those not in the compliance department who need to understand the responsibilities of their compliance colleagues. We’ve seen the previews!
Day One
Plan to arrive early on Day One, since the opening session, Ignite and Infuse – Integrating a Compliant Culture within Company DNA features an impressive panel of leaders from the industry, including Beth Levine from Regeneron, Jim Massey from AstraZeneca, and Michael Shaw from GlaxoSmithKline.
Following the lunch break, we’re interested in the First Amendment and Off-label Promotion – Caronia and Beyond session occurring in the Promotional Compliance content stream. Considering the recent news around the final rule for off-label promotion and the introduction of a bill in Congress on the topic, it promises to be a timely discussion. We’re also interested the HEOR, Real World Evidence and Comparative Research Effectiveness session in the Clinical Research and R&D Compliance content stream to learn more about how health economic and outcomes research affects the compliance space.
The Small to Mid-Sized Bio/Pharma Boot Camp offers sessions dedicated to issues of concern to a significant portion of the attendees. Compliance professionals working in smaller companies face the same issues as their counterparts in large companies, but are challenged to do more with less as they strive to build or expand their compliance programs. We’re looking forward to hearing how they deal with the challenges of training with such limited resources.
The late afternoon Global Compliance content stream includes several sessions covering anticorruption laws around the globe. (And by the way, when you can work a nod to Walt Disney World in your session title, you’ve got our attention.) Anticorruption efforts are increasing rapidly around the world. The Department of Justice has indicated it doesn’t intend to end the FCPA Pilot Program anytime soon, signaling its intention to continue the aggressive pursuit of corruption cases. Also, the Serious Fraud office in the UK recently entered into its first corporate Deferred Prosecution Agreement, adding even more muscle to the UK Bribery Act.
Since training around speaker programs is a consistent concern and need for our clients, we’ll also be listening carefully and taking copious notes in the Compliance Concerns Regarding Speaker Programs session in the Medical Affairs content stream.
Day Two
On Day Two, we’ll be in our seats bright and early again, and we don’t expect to need extra coffee for a session titled, Cardiac Arrest – Surviving Five Years as a Medical Device CEO on the DOJ’s Hit List. We are particularly interested to hear how prosecutors use the Yates Memo to focus on individuals during an investigation. If that isn’t enough to wake you up, the Data Protection, Privacy Risks and Cyber Crime session should do the trick, considering the vast amounts of data those in the industry are required to manage and protect.
The use of third parties and other intermediaries is one of the top bribery risks facing life sciences companies, so as Day Two wraps up, we’ll be sure to catch the Third-Party Due Diligence in the U.S. and Abroad workshop.
If you’re attending the conference, we want to know what you think. Stop by Booth 10 in the Exhibit Hall and let us know what sessions you found to be most intriguing and useful. If you can’t make it this year, watch for updates on the PharmaCertify™ Twitter feed and our annual post conference highlights and notes here on our blog.
We hope to see you in Washington!
