EFPIA calls for Community framework for information on health and medicines

In response to a European Union consultation on information to patients, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) has again stressed that the drug industry stands ready to play a responsible role in the provision of non-promotional, high-quality health information. In so doing, it would respond to European citizens' legitimate rights to benefit from such information, it said.

"Patients in Europe are not getting the health information they need. Improved access to health information will lead to better prevention and compliance, which can, in turn, result in more cost-effective health care. It is urgent that the debate now turns into actions," stated Arthur Higgins, president of the EFPIA and chief executive of Germany's leading pharmaceutical company, Bayer HealthCare AG. Mr Higgins continued: "the acceptability of health information should depend on its quality rather than on the source providing it. We as an industry do not support direct-to-consumer advertising in Europe," and he called for the sector to be allowed to supply non-promotional information to patients. In its contribution to the consultation, the EFPIA set out seven key principles and objectives for reforming current rules on information to patients, and suggests that the Commission comes up with a legal reform allowing this.

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