The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry is launching the final stage of a campaign to lift restrictions that prevent United Kingdom and European pharmaceutical companies from providing factual information about illness and drug treatments direct to patients, according to the association's director general, Professor Trevor Jones.
Speaking recently, Professor Jones said that the ABPI wanted the Government to allow "responsible and fact-based" information to be provided direct to patients to supplement information already provided by health care workers. Patients should have the right to information on prescription-only medicines provided by UK pharmaceutical companies. But patients in Britain were kept in the dark about what medicines were available because the industry was not allowed to inform them.
The spread of health care information on the internet and the emergence of powerful patient support groups had brought greater public demand for information about health issues. But UK regulatory controls prevented pharmaceutical companies from disseminating product information on the internet.
Many patients were turning to websites in the United States, where it was legal for drug companies to provide information and direct-to-public advertising. Although the information on US drug company websites might be reliable, patients also used unregulated sites set up by non-pharmaceutical organisations, which might be giving them inaccurate information.
The ABPI's "informed patient" campaign had started in 1998. The association had studied the regulations regarding promotion in various European countries and had held meetings with doctors, nurses and other carers. It had also been seeking alliances with patient groups, medical organisations, the media and others.
"We want an open discussion on why we regulate drug promotion in the way we do and whether we should continue in that way," Professor Jones said. The ABPI would carry out research with patients and prescribers and use pharmaceutical companies as sources for public relations information on informed patients issues.
Professor Jones was speaking at a Pharmaceutical Marketing Society meeting on March 30.