Access to Information or Promotion! Proposed EU Information Laws on Prescription Drugs

A proposed EU law, being considered by the Commission, to facilitate information on prescription-based medicine has been welcomed by the pharmaceutical sector but criticised by pharmacists, civil society and others as proxy advertising.

The EU originally launched a public consultation on its legal proposal on information for patients in February 2008. Responses and outcomes were subsequently analysed as mixed. The industry welcomed the measures, describing the proposal for non-promotional information as integral to achieving a healthier European society. The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) in particular has supported the proposals as part of an overall policy of "access." But the developments that ultimately led to the publication of the consultation largely originated in strategic discussions for the pharmaceutical sector.

In 2000, the Council of Ministers issued its Conclusions on Medical Products and Public Health, which identified certain issues and factors relevant to the achievement of public health goals - both in terms of the public and in terms of industry advancement and European competitiveness in the pharmaceutical sector. This led to the Commission's establishment of a High Level Group on Innovation and the Provision of Medicines ("G10 Medicines") to examine issues for the pharmaceutical sector.

In May 2002, the G10 Group reported 14 recommendations, which included the recommendation for the creation of a forum dedicated to the pharmaceutical sector. In 2003, the Commission published a communication on a stronger European-based pharmaceutical industry for the benefit of the patient, a call to action in response to the report of the G10 Group. Included in that communication was the key action for the Commission to "explore, with stakeholders, a range of approaches to provide a realistic and practical framework for the provision of information on prescription and non-prescription medicines." And in 2005, the Pharmaceutical Forum was established to progress work according to the three key themes, which are coordinated within special working groups:

• information to patients on pharmaceuticals


• pricing policy


• relative effectiveness.

A European Parliament conference Tuesday heard cautions against the proposed law simply resulting in proxy advertising for the pharmaceutical industry. Secretary General of the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), John Chave (pictured at right), is not convinced of the need for the legislation: "If, however, the laws are to be changed, it is of fundamental importance that public confidence in the integrity of the information provided is maintained. The pushing of information by the industry should never be a proxy form of promotion or advertising. The sole justification for change can only be to help patients and not to grant more commercial freedom to the pharmaceutical industry." In its submission to the public consultation, the PGEU identified problems with self-regulation in the industry, among other concerns.

Arguably, a reliance upon receiving information from the industry (and indeed the proprietors themselves), where that information still requires intepretation and application by the individual patient in those circumstances, is not conducive to the genuine accessibility of health information. Rather, patient information and autonomy with respect to medicines should issue from contact with health care professionals and access to adequate and effective primary health care, including pharmacists and physicians. The information is therefore available as to alternatives, rather than tied to the product.

Pharmaceutical Firms Pledge HIV/AIDS R&D for Resource-Poor

Last week, after meeting with pharmaceutical executives from 17 different firms, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that major pharmaceutical firms were pledging to invest more in research and development on HIV/AIDS treatments and diagnostic procedures for poorer and resource-limited regions, as well as prevention and vaccines.

Despite research developments and new products, inequities in access to medicines continue: "We noted that despite the gains, the epidemic continues to outstrip our best efforts. Only one-third of those who need antiretroviral treatment in low-and middle-income countries are getting it." The Millenium Development Goal 6 is specifically concerned with achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS medicine by 2010 and the halt of the spread of the disease by 2015.


The firms that met with the UN Secretary-General included Abbott Laboraties, which has been in the press for its controversial pricing of Norvir following the marketing of its newer drug, Kaletra.



Access to information is also an important factor in achieving these goals, and China is recognising the significance of data-sharing in disease control. An international team of researchers investigating HIV infections in southern China has been granted full access to government medical data, as reported in Nature. This transparency is advocated as part of China's overall strategy to reach its goal of limiting total infections to 1.5million by 2010.

The Wellcome Trust Book Prize

The Wellcome Trust has just launched a book prize at the Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.

The £25,000 Wellcome Trust Book Prize (making it one of the richest literary awards) will go to the author of an outstanding literary work engaging with perspectives on medicine, health and illness.

Medicine has always been an important literary vehicle, from Bram Stoker's Dracula to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, and this new prize will reward these literary interrogations of attitudes to sickness, health and the medical profession.



The panel, chaired by comedian and former psychiatric nurse, Jo Brand (pictured at right), will consider books published between now and September 2009. Speaking to the Guardian, Jo Brand said, "We are looking for books like One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest [one of Brand's personal favourites], that have illness at the centre of the story."

Jo Brand is joined on the panel by Quentin Cooper (BBC science journalist), Brian Hurwitz (D'Oyly Carte Professor of Medicine and the Arts, Kings College London), Gwyneth Lewis (Welsh author and poet) and Raymond Tallis (former Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester and Consultant Physician, now full-time writer and Visiting Professor to St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London).

The shortlists of 6 works will be announced at next year's Times Cheltenham Literary Festival in October.