New EU proposals ban communication of drug information through mass media

The European Commission has tabled a revised proposal for EU-wide legislation on the information that pharmaceutical companies may give the public on prescription drugs. The draft rules take account of the views of the European parliament, which last autumn said that it believed that the original proposal presented in 2008 failed to distinguish strongly enough between information and advertising.

The latest text, which must be approved by the European parliament and European Union governments before it can come into force, maintains the current ban on advertising of prescription only drugs. It also defines the …