Developing an appropriately supported CME-accredited programme in Europe

Objectives: The Lupus Academy was established as an independent, consortium-led continuing medical education (CME) initiative for physicians interested in the pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and related conditions, based on identification of an unmet clinical need. The Lupus Academy is intended to be a long-term enterprise that is committed to sharing best practice in the field of lupus. Challenge: European CME remains in its infancy and many regulatory aspects are yet to be finalised. Pharmaceutical company supporters must be willing to adopt an ‘arms length’ approach to funding to ensure that educational programmes are truly independent, whilst funding must be spent in an appropriate and ethical manner by education providers. This review manuscript describes the innovative approach of the Lupus Academy within the global CME environment; illustrates the interactions between pharmaceutical supporters, clinicians, education providers and support organisations, in adherence to international guidance; and shows how a pharmaceutical company can support a CME activity whilst satisfying the external regulatory environment. Project structure: The Lupus Academy was created by a Steering Committee of six international experts with funding from GlaxoSmithKline and Human Genome Sciences and support from three organisations to facilitate the delivery of logistics, medical education materials, and CME compliance and financial management. Together, these groups formed a Consortium in which all parties took equal and collective responsibility for the success of the programme, from content development to regulatory compliance, CME adherence and financial management. How and where the meeting took place: The Inaugural Meeting of the Lupus Academy took place in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 2012. Programme content and learning objectives for the 1.5-day meeting were developed by a Steering Committee based on clinical training needs and advances in lupus, and the 17-strong expert faculty was selected by the Steering Committee. The Consortium worked with national and international lupus organisations to identify appropriate clinicians to attend the meeting; a broad range of delegates were attracted to the meeting from across a wide range of disciplines, including rheumatology, nephrology, dermatology, clinical immunology and internal medicine. Outcomes and results: The Inaugural Meeting included plenary sessions and interactive workshops with keypad voting to promote interactivity and delegate participation. The meeting was attended by 296 delegates from 30 countries across Europe, the Americas and the Asia Pacific region. Most delegates rated the educational content, meeting objectives and logistics of the meeting highly. Almost all delegates stated a preference for independent educational initiatives compared with pharmaceutical-controlled events and most delegates considered the absence of commercial bias to be important. Many of the delegates indicated that they would change their clinical practice based on what they learnt from the meeting. Conclusions and future objectives: The Inaugural Meeting of the Lupus Academy was considered a success by the Consortium members and financial supporters. The overall approach to the initiative, including the structure of the Consortium, the independence of the high-quality educational programme, the financial management and CME accreditation, was considered the key to its success. This long-term enterprise will continue as an annual event, with interactive workshops forming a greater part of future programmes to allow delegates to share clinical experiences. The second Annual Meeting of the Academy took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in April 2013, the third is being planned for Berlin, Germany in March 2014. Keywords: Continuing medical education; CME; Lupus; Outcomes; Pharmaceutical; Sponsor (Published: 19 August 2013) DOI: 10.3109/21614083.2013.831242