White Guide and Orange Guide Formatting Project - Pfizer

Orange Guide – Chapter 17: State Laws: HCP and State Employee Restrictions
The State of Louisiana can impose significant penalties on Pfizer and individual Pfizer employees for
failure to comply with the law.
If you have any questions concerning the Louisiana laws discussed here, please contact the Regional
Attorney with responsibility for Louisiana.
Massachusetts
The Law: Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturer Conduct Law (Massachusetts
Marketing Code of Conduct)
The Massachusetts Marketing Code of Conduct significantly restricts Pfizer’s ability to provide meals
and other items of value to HCPs licensed in MA. The law also requires Pfizer to disclose payments and
items provided to “Covered Recipients” (further defined below) that have a value of $50 or more. These
laws are more restrictive than the PhRMA Code. They apply to all colleagues and extend to interactions
with Massachusetts HCPs that occur outside of Massachusetts.
In summary, the law requires Pfizer to:
Adopt the Massachusetts Marketing Code of Conduct;
Establish a compliance program and conduct annual audit and training;
Disclose annually certain financial interactions between Pfizer and Covered Recipients; and
Provide Massachusetts HCPs the opportunity to withhold their prescriber data from use by
sales and marketing.
Failure to comply with any provision of the law can subject Pfizer to a penalty of $5,000 per violation.
Definition of Healthcare Professional
The Massachusetts definition of a healthcare professional (HCP) is broad. It includes any person who
prescribes prescription drugs and is licensed to provide healthcare in Massachusetts, including a
partnership or corporation comprised of such persons. Examples include:
Physicians;
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Rev. 09/12
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