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 the 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.

A set of principles will be 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 educational and scientific programming during ASH's official meetings. For meetings scheduled to last more than one day, ASH will be the only provider of education between the start of the event and the end of the event, even if the program lasts several days.
2. As an accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME) provider, the Society is committed to complying with the requirements set forth by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).
3. 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.
4. ASH recognizes that the ASH annual meeting is an opportunity for companies to convene meetings of their current investigators to provide updates on research.
5. ASH recognizes that most pharmaceutical companies are committed to complying with the PhRMA code and is supportive of this effort even as the implications of this voluntary guideline are being evaluated on a company-by-company basis.
6. 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.
7. ASH recognizes the importance of the Friday Satellite Symposia to our members and to pharmaceutical and biomedical companies, device manufacturers, and nonprofit 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.
8. 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, 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.