MSD | Step-by-step Promotional Review Guide

Restart

General information

Non-product branded content only

Materials or communications with no medical or scientific information and no description of our products or indications.

Health related topics that are general and/or of common knowledge for the public are considered general information if no scientific details or treatment options are discussed.

Materials in this pathway may never include product branding or product name/generic name/MK-number etc.

Examples:

Meeting logistic information (registration pages, app, SMS reminders).

Post meeting surveys and general meeting follow up, emails.

Corporate presentations (for general public).

Corporate Social Responsibility communications.

MSD.XX/corporate websites (excluding therapeutic area/research pages/pipeline).

Service advertisements for newsletters (M-connect).

MSD branded employee introduction letter (e.g. new sales rep).

Employer branding/HR campaigns.

“Reminder items” with MSD logo only (as allowed locally).

Speaker slides from non-medical/scientific speakers that has no medical or scientific information.

General health topics (e.g. benefits of diet and exercise, harms of smoking, etc).

Healthcare system topics (e.g. presentation of authorities, CME system of HCPs, administrative structure of health care, HAT topics).

Consent forms, privacy statements, cookies and other legal matters.

Web page layouts.

Congress booth activities and layout (non-scientific).

Product/class information

Includes all product-branded materials

Materials or communications with medical or scientific information about our current products or therapeutic classes, regardless of whether product branding is used or not.

It includes (but is not limited to) all product branded materials.

It includes materials that indirectly describe our products without directly mentioning the product name.

It includes all materials above, no matter whether the intent of the material is promotional or not.

Examples:

Detail aids, mailers, webpages etc. that describes the products (“traditional promotional content”).

Indirect mention of products via using characteristics that describes the product ex mode of action, special features, alone in class.

Materials that describes or differentiates one specific therapeutic class, even without mention of brand or generic names.

Materials that describes different therapeutic subgroups (e.g. DPP4-inhibitors, checkpoint inhibitors, etc).

Budget impact models and value stories for specific products or classes.

Non-promotional information that contains product information/claims.

Product-branded meeting invitations/agendas.

Product specific press-releases.

Disease awareness materials where different treatment options are described.

Non-product/Non-class scientific information

Non-product branded content only

Materials or communications with medical or scientific information about our current therapeutic areas, diseases or indications. There should be no discussion of therapeutic class, and no mention or description of our products (direct or indirect).

It includes materials on health related topics that are general and/or of common medical knowledge that discuss scientific details of the disease.

Scientific materials may not include product branding (e.g. product logo or branding elements), regardless of intended audience or context.

Materials on disease areas or indications where we do not yet have approved products are excluded and must be discussed with medical review before development for appropriateness and for proper classification.

Examples:

Scientific information in general, e.g. epidemiology, diagnosis, pathology, non-pharmaceutical interventions about current therapeutic areas/indication where we have an approved indication.

Scientific materials of disease or therapeutic area with no discussion of treatment options.

However, a very brief mention or description of all available treatment options (at class level) in a balanced manner may be acceptable.

Reprints from a reputable peer reviewed journal which contains no mention or data of our products.

Official scientific guidelines with no specific product recommendations.

Patient care topics specific to MSD therapeutic area/disease.

Health related topics for a specific disease that has scientific base and is of more extensive scientific detail (not common knowledge), but no discussion about treatment options.

Disease awareness campaigns to general public without mention of specific class or treatment options.

General information

Product/class information

Promotional Materials vs Product Logo only

Non-product/Non-class scientific information

MSD Sourced Content

3rd party created content

Agendas and Invitations