Purely medicinal?

doi:10.1136/bmj.39527.454560.59

BMJ 2008;336:693 (29 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39527.454560.59

Observations

Border Crossing

Purely medicinal?

Tessa Richards, assistant editor, BMJ

trichards@bmj.com

We must grasp the opportunity to respond to a controversialEU proposal to allow drug companies to provide information onprescription only drugs directly to the public

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

How easy is it to draw a clear line between providing informationabout a product and promoting it? Most of us would regard itas difficult, if not impossible. Not the European Commission,though—at least not when the product is a drug. This isevident in a new and already much criticised consultation paperon patient information (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/pharmaceuticals/index_en.htm).This paper sets out the commission’s ambitious proposalsto provide Europe’s citizens with "uniform access to understandable,objective, high quality, and non-promotional information" ondrugs. Central to these plans is a move to allow manufacturersto provide information on prescription drugs directly to thepublic, under the "clear safeguard" that advertisement is banned.Responses to the paper are invited to help inform a draft directivethat will include proposals to reform the way drugs are assessedand priced. So why the criticism?

The answer lies in the history behind the . . . [Full text of this article]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Add to Reddit Reddit Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon Add to Technorati Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

A cynical consultation exercise?: Charles Medawar
BMJ 2008 336: 787. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Include cost of treatment: Anthony N Glaser
BMJ 2008 336: 788. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Of medicine and medicines: Tony Delamothe
BMJ 2008 336: 0. [Extract] [Full Text]

Over the counter medicines: proceed with caution: Robin E Ferner and Keith Beard
BMJ 2008 336: 694-696. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Sweetening the pill: Hannah Brown
BMJ 2007 334: 664-666. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Glaser, A. N (2008). Include cost of treatment. BMJ 336: 788-788 [Full text]
Medawar, C. (2008). A cynical consultation exercise?. BMJ 336: 787-787 [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Direct to consumer advertising: Anthony N Glaser
bmj.com, 29 Mar 2008 [Full text]
Misdirection by �truth�?: Mohamed Sakel
bmj.com, 30 Mar 2008 [Full text]
Americanisation: Neal J Russell
bmj.com, 3 Apr 2008 [Full text]
A cynical consultation exercise?: Charles Medawar
bmj.com, 4 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Starving for good quality info - flooded with misleading marketing: Norbert Wilk
bmj.com, 4 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Have we disposed of the need for evidence?: Daniel J Beck, et al.
bmj.com, 5 Apr 2008 [Full text]
DTC: Impossible to stop, once begun?: James B. Russo
bmj.com, 5 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Make all drugs OTC ! DTC is coming ! The day is not far away for patient guided prescription ?: venkatesan sangareddi, et al.
bmj.com, 11 Apr 2008 [Full text]