The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7249 p674
17 May 2003

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European Parliament fails to overturn proposal on drug information for patients

The European Commission has rejected an attempt by the European Parliament to block plans to allow pharmaceutical companies to provide information on medicines to patients (PJ, 2 November 2002, p632).

Last month, the commission published its assessment of amendments the parliament wanted made to plans to consolidate and update European Directives related to pharmaceutical products. The commission said that its proposal to allow companies to provide information on medicines to treat AIDS, asthma and diabetes for a trial period of three years should be maintained.

The proposed changes to the Directives, the European Parliament’s amendments and the commission’s comments on them now go to a working party of the Council of Ministers for consideration at the beginning of June. After that the matter will return to the European Parliament for further consideration.