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    "free educational events"

    I've gotten a few invitations recently to attend "free educational events" about drugs (Tec, Avonex). The one I just got is being hosted at a fab restaurant I'd love to eat at! ha!

    So, what are these things like? I'm imagining some kind of high pressured time share scenario.

    #2
    Actually they are quite awesome and educational. I have gone to several of them and always learn something. There are about 20-30 people there and neuro from the area speaks about the disease and the meds. that they are pomoting that day.

    There is great food, good information and you get to know people in your area with the monster.

    Absolutely no pressure at all. Go to the restroom, talk and ask a bunch of questions.

    I always enjoy this night because I am not the only one with a cane and a funky strut.
    DIAGNOSED=2012
    ISSUES LONG BEFORE
    REBIF 1 YEAR

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      #3
      I have been to several of these events and they always seem to be sponsored by a 'big pharma' marketing group. They always 'pay' a local neurologist to speak about MS and any 'new' developments in MS treatments. But, typically, the main focus of the seminar is the doctor's explanation of the featured drug. That is my experience with these events.

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        #4
        Java,
        I've been to a few of these pharmaceutical-sponsored dinners. And I, too, watch for the ones at the nice restaurants. Be aware, however, that the dinner will be the banquet service, still good but not the top of the regular menu.

        The presenting neurologist has a power-point slide presentation prepared by the drug company and usually goes through it faithfully. It is not hard-sell. A person with MS speaks first, someone with a positive attitude, telling his/her story including success with the specified med.

        Most of the time, however, (and what everyone acknowledges is the core purpose of the dinner) is devoted to questions and answers from the MSers attending the dinner. People ask about everything, and the neurologists I have seen at these dinners seem well-informed and sensitive. The designated treatment of the sponsoring pharma is not pushed during the question and answer time. I always come away with some bit of new knowledge or a tip.

        So, I say go for it. Enjoy. You will also possibly meet other people with MS you never knew were so nearby.

        Stay lifted,
        Mermaid
        "Life is short, and we have but little time to gladden the hearts of those who travel with us; so let us be swift to love, and make haste to be kind."
        
-Henri Amiel

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          #5
          Enjoy the meal...

          The hosts can't sell you anything: all they can do is tell you about the drugs and give you some literature. So, enjoy the meal and don't feel any pressure. You may actually learn something new, but any decision must still be shared by you, your doctor, and possibly your insurance.

          If the hosting drug company has 50 people show up, and only one of them makes a decision to switch to their drug, then it is worth their investment of the meals. The profit margin for these drugs is huge.
          RRMS since July 2010.

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            #6
            No, its not like that at all. When I was first diagnosed I attended quite a few of these. Its a panel, usually a local specialist or advocate, who discusses whatever the topic for that day is.

            And don't count on "eating" at that restaurant. Their idea of providing food is usually just a sampling. I mostly went to the breakfast ones and you'd get a mini-buffet of pastry and fruit.

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              #7
              haha Thanks all. I won't plan on a real meal or being pressured into signing my life away. Fair's fair!

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                #8
                I've only received invites

                from MSLifeLines (Rebif which I've never used but a doctor told me to use it years ago, so that's probably where they got my name). What other companies have these events?

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                  #9
                  Shared Solutions has events also for Copaxone.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by its2much View Post
                    from MSLifeLines (Rebif which I've never used but a doctor told me to use it years ago, so that's probably where they got my name). What other companies have these events?
                    Every one of the DMDs, Tysabri and orals included, plus Ampyra. Local chapters of the NMSS, as well.

                    javaaddict, food will range from hors d'oeuvres to full, albeit light meals, maybe just sweets like danish or small desserts. The presentations are run by local professionals, normally MS neuros or PAs, sometimes NPs.

                    There will be a presentation either on the drug the sponsoring company is featuring or an MS topic like symptom management. They, and the professional, are restricted by law what they can say about the drug, so there won't be much more than what you read on their website or see in their magazine ads. So no used car sales person type stuff. They are local and their practice will be mentioned everywhere their name is. They won't risk their reputation or their practice's by going beyond what they should.

                    The question and answer period is where the value lies. You can ask about the drugs and get slightly more, though they are still restricted to trial info. Most of that is in small print on sites and in the stuff they mail you. It's available, but often overlooked, so it's good to get the dr's take on it. Also, you can ask about general MS stuff.

                    Finally, you get to meet other PwMS and make some connections. Oh, and there's sometimes swag. Go and have fun!

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                      #11
                      Biogen's "Graduate Course"

                      "You've been learning about your disease for years, so consider this dinner a graduate course for MS." /images of false color PET scans and researchers underneath

                      I stop reading about histopathologic presentation of type II lesion matter long enough to sign up, because the only thing more unhealthy than brooding over the complexities of a disease for hours on end rather than enjoying the pleasantries of life's offerings is to drive forty miles to do it with other people. And, free food.

                      First we get lost, which is mostly my fault because I forget to get the GPS out of my now-defunct car, and after I get done peeing in an abandoned office park's lot we backtrack for nine miles. It is partially not my fault because Google directions said it was supposed to be on the right side of the street. Finally, we arrive, are turned away, and then, begrudgingly, are let into the event.

                      We walk into the middle of a slideshow, which showcases Biogen's drug offerings. Then, a woman who's had 80+ infusions of Tysabri offers her inspirational story. I ask her what her JC status is, if that was OK to ask. She said, negative. Another audience member asks, "that's the disease you get from swallowing the Tysabri"? Graduate course dinner, heck lady just CLEP out of UCLA's biochemistry classes. My friend whispers that the cod is the only item on the menu that is gluten free.

                      Finally, the Q&A with the neurologist arrives. "My legs swell after I take Gilenya!" the woman across from me declares. Which, if it were an Novartis dinner, and not a dinner but a doctor's office, would be a totally relevant interjection. I mentally cross off all my MS-related questions, and fish up a drug question. I ask where anti-LINGO is in the pipeline, plus I want tons of info on this marvelous drug, and am answered recursively, "in the pipeline." As he's abandoning the podium, I guess he decides he's been a bit too curt, and says "why don't you call Biogen"?

                      Perhaps the most awful aspect of the evening is that there are literally two chairs open in our area, and I find myself sitting next to someone in upper management ("strategic initiatives"), who's probably spent all day revealing who has been jacking up the group healthcare costs for the past year and a half.

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                        #12
                        dyin_myelin,
                        Your post makes me realize that the information provided is not for us 'MS weary' people. I have abandoned the idea that there will be any 'new' and helpful information that I haven't already discovered on my own.
                        My wife will see the 'invitation' to the event, and sign us up. Now that I have some experience, I am heading her off and cancelling the reservations.
                        There is always the 'rubber chicken' meal and the chance to speak with an MS specialist as a side benefit. And the drug company's reps are as bored as 'we' are. Hope that you, at least, enjoyed reasonably decent meal.

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