The January PSMG meeting was attended by more than 50 senior pharmaceutical sales managers, who enjoyed a day of informative presentations and lively debate.

Ian Chamberlain, Director of Fully Equipped, started the proceedings by challenging us to consider how we allow our customers to develop prejudices about us and how we develop prejudices about them. He discussed the impact of these perceptions on access, and highlighted some ways to overcome them. An article based on his presentation can be found in PSM on page 8.

Christina Tolvas-Vincent, a Partner with the Employment Team at Bond Pearce, provided a worrying yet enlightening session outlining the requirements of the Age Discrimination Regulations that will be implemented from October 2006. She was also able to provide an update on other changes in employment law, and to answer questions from the floor on general employment law issues. An article covering the key points of her talk can be found in PSM on page 20.

Andrew Hotchkiss, UK Managing Director of Eli Lilly, used his time with us to provide the group with an understanding of the process and rationale behind the new changes to the ABPI Code of Practice. Andrew headed up an industry group as part of the first major review of the Code for more than 10 years. More information about his talk can be found in PSM on page 4.

Nigel Morley, Managing Director of Surelines Pharmaceutical Services, gave a detailed talk on the opportunities presented by Category M generic reimbursement and the challenges presented by the proposed Dispensing Doctor Dispensing Contract. The key points of his talk can be found in the article on page 6 of PSM.

Finally, the Chairman of the PSMG, David Garmon-Jones, was delighted to present a cheque for 2500 to Doug Bowden of Macmillan Cancer Relief. During 2005, speakers were offered the chance to donate their fees to the PSMG charity, and this will continue in 2006. The PSMG charity for 2006 will be announced at the next meeting.

The meeting was kindly sponsored by eVantage Consulting, mediary and Guided Solutions.

Full details of each of the presentations can be found in issue 13 of Pharmaceutical Sales Management. To subscribe, please email your details to editor@pharmamanager.co.uk. You can also view the articles at www.pharmamanager.co.uk.