ASH Principles for Relations with Industry

Research and development sponsored by the biomedical/pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in biomedical research, and significant scientific discoveries have been made through collaboration between the biomedical/pharmaceutical industry and non-industry researchers. We are partners with complementary roles in the quest for prevention and cure of blood diseases.

ASH is committed to fostering the dissemination of evidence-based, peer-reviewed science. While industry endorses this mission, its business strategy requires the marketing of products to physicians. These two objectives create the need for clear guidelines that ensure the separation of ASH’s educational functions from industry’s product-marketing activities.

The following principles serve as the basis for formulating rules and guiding decision-making where industry is involved.

For ASH meetings:

1. ASH is committed to the presentation of an objective educational and scientific program, as well as to the presentation of peer-reviewed scientific abstracts; as a result of that commitment, ASH should be the sole provider of all on-program educational and scientific programming during official ASH meetings from the start of the event to the end of the event.
2. ASH is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education to physicians. As such, ASH is committed to complying with the requirements set forth by the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education..
3. ASH recognizes the ACCME’s definition of Ineligible Companies as those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
4. Further, ASH acknowledges ACCME’s position that owners and employees of Ineligible Companies must be excluded from participating as planners or faculty in accredited continuing education activities.
5. ASH values the relationships it has with pharmaceutical and biomedical companies and recognizes that ASH meetings provide a natural forum for meeting attendees to interact with representatives of the pharmaceutical industry.
6. ASH recognizes that the ASH annual meeting is an opportunity for companies to convene meetings of their current investigators to provide updates on research.
7. ASH recognizes that most pharmaceutical companies are committed to complying with the PhRMA code and is supportive of this effort.
8. The broad scope of ASH’s meetings often makes it challenging for meeting participants to attend all the ASH-sponsored sessions they wish to attend; for this reason, pharmaceutical and biomedical companies are required to avoid sponsoring any events that might conflict with the formal ASH educational/scientific program.
9. ASH recognizes the importance of the Friday Satellite Symposia to our members and to pharmaceutical and biomedical companies, device manufacturers, and non-profit organizations. These meetings, which fall outside of the scope of the official ASH annual meeting, provide a forum for companies to provide CME-accredited education for physicians that supplements the educational experience of meeting attendees. They should not be used as a forum to focus on business interests.
10. ASH is committed to holding high-quality meetings and strongly discourages any behavior that could diminish the professional nature of our meetings: in the exhibit hall, during the Friday Satellite Symposia, within the product theaters, or in conjunction with the ancillary meetings or during educational sessions. ASH has adopted principles to underscore its commitment to avoid bias, as well as policies that lay out specific ways in which the Society safeguards the integrity of the programs and activities in which its membership is engaged. We expect our corporate partners to embrace both the letter and spirit of these principles when participating in ASH meetings and respect the safeguards that have been established.