Overview

That the Congress is returning to Singapore for the third time in its eight year history is indicative of the location of large compliance legal staffs of pharmaceutical and medical device companies doing business in the Asia Pacific region.

The Congress is sponsored by the Asia Pacific Healthcare Industry Compliance Team and co-sponsored by the International Society of Healthcare Ethics and Compliance Professionals (ETHICS).

The Congress is the leading pharma and medical device compliance event in the Asia Pacific region. In the past it has been offered in Singapore (2011), Shanghai (2012), Kuala Lumpur (2013), Shanghai (2014), Manila (2015), Singapore (2016) and Shanghai (2017). The Congress is a part of a global pharma compliance congress series which has featured recent congresses in Paris, Rome, Budapest, Dubai, Brussels, Warsaw, Lisbon and Vienna (the International Pharma Compliance Congress), Sao Paolo and Mexico City (the Latin American Pharma Congress) and Washington, DC (the Pharma Congress).

The Asia Pacific region is geographically immense and culturally, economically and politically diverse. Many countries in the region are experiencing explosive economic growth. As the Asia Pacific region rises so does its importance to the global pharmaceutical, device and life sciences sectors.

The life sciences industry in Asia Pacific has been growing at breakneck speed. The law and regulations surrounding the industry, as well as industry codes of practice, have been increasing exponentially. Certainty and consistency in the application of these new laws, regulation and codes, so important to efficient business practices, has been uneven. These developments challenge companies to adapt, change and evolve faster to be able to respond with new internal processes and behaviors. The UK Bribery Act joins the FCPA and various Asia Pacific anti-corruption laws now applicable to business in the region. There has also recently been intense regulatory enforcement focus on the industry by various Asian governments in order to create a more transparent environment and provide consistent guidelines to HCPs and companies on how to interact without having undue influence. These investigations and enforcement actions present increasing risks for many companies and HCPs which are still trying to find their footing in this complex and booming region.

This year the Congress will feature keynote speakers from the Singapore Association of Pharmaceutical Industries, Transparency International, the European Data Protection Agency, the US Department of Justice, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, INSEAD Singapore. This year the Congress offers the following sessions: an Asia Pac Anti-Corruption Update Roundtable, an Update on the Revised IFPMA Code, the APEC Code and Other Global Codes, an Asia Pac Hot Compliance Markets Updates: China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam, a Chinese Anti-Corruption and Compliance Best Practices Roundtable, a Session on Asia Pac Medical Device Compliance Regulatory Developments and Burning Issues, The Regulation of Direct Sponsorships in the Asia Pac Region, Strategies to Resolve Potential Conflicts of Interest and Third Party (Distributor, Vendor, Alliance: Partner, Government-related Associations, HCOs, etc.) Management, including Pre-evaluation, Due Diligence, Contracting, Monitoring and Payment.