New drug firm limits prompt fears of falloff in medical meetings in Boston

The Boston Globe reports:

Boston's status as a popular destination for medical industry meetings - which generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue for hotels, restaurants, and the state - is at risk because of new regulations restricting financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and doctors, according to industry executives.

The city hosted 2,500 medical and pharmaceutical company meetings in 2007 and 2008, attended by thousands of doctors and other clinicians; hotels earned $130 million from those meetings, while the state received about $16 million in tax payments, according to the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. About 40 percent of the city's convention business is medical-related.

But now, with strict new regulations set to take effect July 1, some meeting sponsors are considering pulling out of Boston, said Patrick Moscaritolo, president of the convention bureau, who wants the state to delay im plementation of the law. At least two large medical conferences already have withdrawn.

Great moments in regulation.