There is unease among some health care professionals that pharmaceutical companies might supply data on medicines to patients as part of a suggestion to modify the current ban on direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising in Europe. You can read about these concerns in the current issue of the British Medical Journal.
In New Zealand and the USA, where the promotion of prescription drugs to the general public is legal, patients tend to use new drugs sooner than patients in other countries, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine. The report suggests that in Europe there should be a two-year period of grace on direct-to-consumer advertising on drugs that have just been approved. The European parliament is going to make a decision on this in the coming months.
However, a report that came out in April this year concluded that reliable information on drugs is not enough for patients’ needs. It urges pharmaceutical companies and regulatory bodies to form a partnership to fill this information gap.
The authors in this latest article, Nicola Magrini and Maria Font, say that this kind of partnership would be confusing, and stress that good information sources already exist in Europe. The public’s problem is finding these good sources and knowing which ones are impartial and helpful and which are promotional materials.
The authors recommend two areas of partnership with the pharmaceutical industry which, according to them, would boost public confidence in the system. One would mean providing full access to data on the efficacy and safety of drugs to enhance transparency. The second would mean moving the EMEA (European Medicines Evaluation Agency) from the Enterprise and Industry Directorate General to the Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General. This would get rid of the dilemma of having, on the one hand to support the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical industry, while at the same time protecting the interests of patients, they argue.
If one wishes to protect public health effectively, the writers conclude, it is essential to identify the sources of impartial and scientifically reviewed data and maintain current European drug promotion legislation as it is – while also strengthening the role of the EMEA.
“Editorial: Direct to consumer advertising of drugs in Europe”
Nicola Magrini, Maria Font
BMJ 2007;335:526 (15 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.39310.506308.AD
Written by: Christian Nordqvist