In my 25 years as an ASCO member I have watched the relationship between ASCO and the pharmaceutical industry evolve from almost incestuous to almost antagonistic.  Attending the 2012 Annual Meeting I am reminded how important industry is to ASCO, not only in its financial support of our organization via participation in the commercial trade show but also through its support of discovery and development of new treatments and technologies that contribute to our science, our practices and many of the very advances we present and discuss at our annual meeting.  While there needs to be a robust firewall between industry and academia to assure the integrity of vital peer review and regulatory processes, the firewall does not have to include antagonism or imply that pharmaceutical industry personnel are somehow evil or bad.  On the trade show floor of the 2012 Annual Meeting, signs were placed in all aisles that suggested that what pharmaceutical company personnel do within their proscribed exhibits is objectionable enough that extending it to other areas of the trade show floor is a serious violation warranting expulsion and other sanctions.  While I agree that promotion in the aisles and leisure areas is undesirable and a policy to restrict it is reasonable, the placement of multiple signs throughout the trade show and the wording implies that industry personnel cannot be trusted and are a threat to ASCO members. If ASCO was trying to send a message to its members that pharmaceutical personnel cannot be trusted, it couldn’t have been done any better.  If the intention was to demonstrate that ASCO was on duty policing the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and ASCO members, the mission was accomplished but with an unnecessarily heavy hand and with a message to members that could further damage the already fragile relationship that ASCO has with industry.  Our ASCO leadership is pretty busy this weekend with the Annual Meeting, but I hope that someone will take the time to think about this vital relationship and examine how these signs found their way into the flow of what was otherwise a spectacularly conducted meeting.

The Sign:   

Thanks for your prompt reply and clarification.  I am relieved that the signs did not represent a worsening of the unusual relationship between ASCO and the pharmaceutical manufacturers.  It is also nice to know that ASCO Connection can be an effective way for members  to create a dialogue with ASCO's leadership.