Can the pharmaceutical company issue a check directly to the speaker as an honorarium for a CME lecture?
No, such directly payment would make the speaker a paid agent of the drug company and violate the activity’s independence from the funder. All commercial support must be given in the form of an “Educational Grant” to the accredited sponsor: OCME. OCME issues all honoraria payments on behalf of the institution. In this way, the speaker’s relationship is with Johns Hopkins, not a pharmaceutical company.
