132 - A variation to question #89. An international speaker has been asked to make a presentation to a Canadian meeting of healthcare professionals about a product which has recently received its NOC. Her talk is not accredited, or about the disease category, but is focussed on the product itself which is mentioned by brand name. The slides, which are not printed out for distribution at the meeting but used onscreen, are prepared by the speaker and not by the sponsor. Do the slides require PAAB preclearance?
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In this scenario, the meeting would be a product promotional meeting and the speaker is acting on behalf of the company to promote their product. The company has picked the topic and speaker and probably the target audience, so it would fall far short of CME accreditation standards. Thus, the speaker would be acting like an agency does when it creates a journal ad for the company except there is no physical distribution involved. The speaker would be providing what the company wants. All of the rules of "advertising" would apply, so the company should brief the speaker about Canadian regulations and the PAAB Code of Advertising Acceptance. With respect to review by the PAAB, the Code calls for review of materials prepared with company control and distribution to health professionals. If the company gave the speaker the slides they would require PAAB review. In this scenario, the activity is a promotional meeting and review of the slides is not covered by the PAAB Code. The PAAB would review them if asked.
