Key Topic 5: Important information for approval of assets
As well as considering all of these aspects of terms of claims, there are some very important pieces of information that you will need to provide to your signatories and to consider when preparing your material.
These are listed below – click on each for more information:
Purpose of asset
The purpose of an asset is often a critical piece of information, although it may be obvious in many cases. For example it may have a purely promotional purpose (to sell a product to an appropriate audience), it may be educational, it may be for internal training, to increase awareness of a particular disease, to provide budgetary information for payers, or to provide support for patients.
Some assets, statements or claims may be approvable in one context but not in another and so you need to provide this information to your signatory. Assets can only used for the specific purpose for which they have been approved.
Target audience
Material should only be sent or distributed to people whose need for, or interest in it, can reasonably be assumed.
If the material were to be used with a different audience for which it was not approved, it could breach regulations.
Most countries do not allow promotion of ‘prescription only medicines’ to the general public (including the media). A notable exception is the USA.
Method of distribution
You should inform your signatory exactly how an asset is to be distributed or by what means it will reach its target audience. Vague information such as ‘digital’ is not sufficient. This is because other aspects such as the methods of targeting the intended audience, obligatory information and approving the asset in final form need to be considered. Assets may only be distributed by the approved means.
