The U.K.’s drug marketing watchdog has blasted Croma Pharma for using one of “The Leading Hotels of The World” for a drug launch symposium, concluding that the choice of a five-star, Monaco-based venue for the event brought discredit to the pharma industry.
An anonymous complainant brought the event to the attention of the U.K. Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA). The complainant stated Croma held the launch symposium for Letybo, a Botox rival, in the ballroom of a five-star venue. A hotel sign said the event involved “Cocktails, meeting, and dinner,” and attendees posted about a #fashionevent with a “little bit of science” on Instagram.
Croma defended its April 2022 event, stating it provided “90 minutes of high-class scientific and relevant content” and arguing the hotel “was the only available venue providing a meeting room with this capacity, and within this location.” Croma told the PMCPA that it “booked the least luxury room” at the hotel, adding that the hotel team created the sign and no cocktails were served at any time.
According to Croma, the meal was within the 75 pounds sterling ($91) plus tax limit. Croma gave the PMCPA a partially redacted copy of the invoice, but the watchdog’s panel noted a “lack of clarity around the financial expenditure.” In the end, the PMCPA concluded that, whatever Croma spent, the overall impression was that hospitality, including the venue, did not appear to be secondary to the main purpose of the event.
“The five-star Monaco-based venue was inappropriate and delegates might have been attracted to attend by matters other than the scientific content. This was, in the Panel’s view, compounded by the poor impression created by the signage and reference to ‘cocktails,’” the PCMA wrote in its report.
The name of the hotel is absent from the PMCPA report, but a social media post about the introduction of Letybo at an April 2022 event in Monaco lists Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo as the location. The hotel, part of the “Leading Hotels of The World” collection, makes guests “feel part of the glam scene with the access to the resort's private beach, golf course, tennis courts and 71,000-square-foot wellness center.”