Speaker Programs in an Age of Pandemic and Beyond - BioNJ

Linda Pissott Reig, shareholder and co-chair of the firm's FDA practice and George Karavetsos, shareholder in the firm’s FDA & Biotechnology and White Collar, Compliance & Investigations practices, presented at BioNJ’s Legal, Compliance & Regulatory Forum during the session, “Speaker Programs in an Age of Pandemic and Beyond.” Linda served as a moderator and George served as a panelist.

The full session description can be found below:

Speaker programs have been a key feature of pharma and biotech marketing campaigns for decades. And, for just as long, they have been fertile ground for government scrutiny and enforcement. With the abrupt, pandemic-induced shift to fully remote speaker programs from in-person events, new legal and regulatory challenges have had to be addressed. And, even with the gradual return to more in-person promotion, industry has also had to grapple with the HHS Office of Inspector General’s November 2020 Special Fraud Alert, a document which some view as fundamentally calling into question the entire practice of compensating healthcare professionals for speaking engagements. Hear from and engage with industry attorneys and a former FDA criminal enforcement official as they discuss the risks associated with this evolving practice, potential solutions for mitigating these risks and recent enforcement trends in this area.