BMJ  2006;333:1087 (25 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39042.547674.94

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Germany's drug regulatory body is attacked

Annette Tuffs

1 Heidelberg

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The independent institute that assesses new drugs in Germany is facing criticisms similar to those aimed at its equivalent body in the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Last week in Cologne a member of an association for people with diabetes and representatives of the drug industry walked out of a hearing of the Institute for Quality and Economic Efficiency in Health Care in Cologne because they were not allowed to record the hearing, which was on the use of short acting insulin analogues.

The institute has provoked anger among patients' groups and the drug industry by saying that no evidence has been shown that short acting insulin analogues had any advantage over human insulin (BMJ 2006;332:874).

After the walk-out drug firms accused the institute, which was founded in 2004, of insufficient transparency. The institute's director, Peter Sawicki, said that its rules did not allow . . . [Full text of this article]


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