Historical Background

IPCAA was formed in 1989, originally as the European Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association (EPCAA), an association of European research-based pharmaceutical companies. Their concerns were mainly two-fold: - that new and emerging European Community regulations over pharmaceutical promotion were causing confusion and inconsistency for sponsors of international medical congresses - and that sponsors' contracts for their participation in these congresses were becoming heavily weighted (from the point of view of cost and logistics) in favour of the organisers.

The first active members of EPCAA represented most of the principal European pharmaceutical companies - Astra, Bayer, Ciba-Geigy, Glaxo, Hoechst, ICI, Janssen, Organon, Roche, Sandoz (whose congress manager proposed the idea of the Association), Schering and SmithKline Beecham.

The Association’s first priority was to develop a Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct effectively presents short basic statements relevant to healthcare congress issues (scientific objectivity, audiences, venues, honoraria, hospitality, travel and accommodation costs, exhibitions and monitoring). The initial Code of Conduct, ratified in 1991, was recommended by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA) to all its members. The third edition was lodged with the European Commission in Brussels.

A more practical document to emerge was the Congress Guidelines. This document has been extensively expanded over the years to take account of changing international regulation, and reflects the closer working relationships between congress organisers and sponsors.

Since 1989 there have been a number of structural changes. In 1993 in response to the simple fact that a European association was simply unable to represent the global spread of healthcare congress sponsors, EPCAA became the International Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association (IPCAA).

In 1994, the Council agreed that as Italy's national promotional regulations were so unique that a local branch of IPCAA was approved. IPCAA Italy continues to flourish. In 1995, in a move to encourage membership and to shift IPCAA's emphasis from process to more active involvement, therapeutic taskforces were set up (in Cardiology, Oncology, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Women’s Health and Psychiatry) with a mission to work closely with the organisers of individual congresses within the spirit of the IPCAA Guidelines. These Task Forces are now seen as the public face of IPCAA. In 1999, the General Assembly agreed to change the statutes once more and broaden the definition of membership, to make all healthcare companies eligible - and thereby allow IPCAA to represent all sponsors (including Diagnostics and Imaging) at medical congresses. In 2003 IEARC (an organisation representing the healthcare congress interests of the imaging and radiology industry) voted to join IPCAA, resulting in a more representative and broader based organisation.

Today IPCAA represents in excess of 26 healthcare companies from around the world with its Code of Conduct and Guidelines seen as the basis for interactions between medical societies, congress organisers and the Healthcare Industry.