CHICAGO (Reuters) - New limits on free gifts to doctors have hit the ubiquitous free lattes and coffee seen at major medical meetings like the one here of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The conference exhibit floor still features massive information booths from cancer drugmakers like Roche Holding AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Amgen Inc — though the days of shopping bags laden with pricey goodies are long gone.

Many drugmakers still offer coffee or candy with no strings attached; but Pfizer Inc requires doctors to swipe their registration cards and warns that physicians from Minnesota and Vermont are prohibited from imbibing.

"This is getting to the point of absurdity ... Is this the way we are going to solve the issue of healthcare in this country?" said Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society.

Pfizer, which agreed last year to a $2.3 billion fine in a drug marketing case, also warns in a sign in front of the coffee machine that it may provide the names of coffee-drinking doctors to regulators. In March, Pfizer disclosed that it had paid $35 million to some 4,500 doctors and researchers for the last six months of 2009 for such services as speaking fees and work on clinical trials.

Officials at the company were not immediately available for comment on their coffee policy.