Drugs Info Brought Closer To Patients Via The Internet

Direct contact between drug-consumers and the pharmaceutical industry is forecast by Edward Roberts, head of the pharmaceutical division of German drugmaker E Merck of Darmstadt and chairman of Pharmaceutical Partners for Better Healthcare. He cited a recent conference on cancer in Philadelphia, USA, where results of a Merck research-based drug study were presented on the Internet two days later.

Mr Roberts said this meant that patients visiting this Internet site already knew more about the product two days later than did 99.9% of Merck's own work colleagues. He added that the technology would lead to an explosion in generally available drug data, with the drug industry in future facing better-informed patients.