On 14 March 2021, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published the Guidelines on Applications for Electronic Scientific Meetings and Electronic Product Promotion Meetings (Turkish language). Electronic meetings have become more important because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the guidelines have been published to answer questions raised in practice. They also introduce stricter rules for electronic meetings.
Key provisions of the guidelines are as follows:
- Electronic scientific meetings cannot be organised by marketing authorisation holders. Marketing authorisation holders (MAHs) cannot provide direct or indirect support to meetings held electronically for patients, including those that provide disease information, and cannot provide direct or indirect support to electronic meetings held on social media platforms and in any media and communication medium where public broadcasts are made. General sponsorship provided by the MAHs in a meeting cannot be more than seven times the gross minimum wage, and satellite symposium sponsorship and stand participation support cannot be more than ten times the gross minimum wage.
- In terms of product promotion meetings, MAHs cannot provide services such as catering to participants in electronic product promotion meetings. However, electronic product promotion meetings organised or sponsored by the foreign representatives of MAHs are not considered to fall within the scope of electronic meetings.
First published by Practical Law in Apr 02, 2021.
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