Hey Roberto,

I believe that those guidelines are a bit too restrictive, however they do serve a purpose. Basically, these guidelines are set in place so that a physician who is being pitched a product chooses that product only because it is a good product and not because the rep who sold it to him was courting him. Because of this, it would not make sense to allow the reps to pay for the wife’s meal or discuss other things that are not business related. That being said, I’m not sure if these same rules apply to the pharmaceutical industry. My friend works as a pharmaceutical sales rep and tells me all the time that he takes doctors to lunches and they don’t always only talk about business. Perhaps this is just one of those rules that is out there but is not strictly enforced. Realistically, who will be doing an audit of an hour long lunch between a sales rep and a physician.

– Saad Ali