LEEM announces 3rd medicine dialog week

The French drug industry association, LEEM, has published details of its third week of public dialog about medicines, to be held on October 13-19, with over 100 events taking place across France. The LEEM will be partnered by the national pharmacists union, the ONP, and will have for its theme: My Health, Medication and I.

Christian Lajoux, the LEEM's president, said: "encouraged by the success of previous versions, we have sought this year to listen especially to patients about issues that concern best practice and of clear and useful information about drugs." He added that the appropriate use of pharmaceutical products is a message that is of importance in France today, given concerns about overprescribing and the cost of the national drug bill (Marketletters passim).

The principal themes covered by the various events across France will include: the 10 golden rules for keeping drugs at home; a discussion about making sure that product labeling is comprehensible for patients; the changing expectations of patients in terms of health information, especially for medicines; and the pharmaceutical industry's marketing policies with special reference to relationships with patient groups. The latter theme was added, the LEEM explained, in part to encourage public awareness of the new provisions set out in the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations' Code of Practice, which became effective in France on July 1 (Marketletters passim). A web site established for the week (www.le-medicament-parlons-en.com) will carry news about the events taking place as well as allow the public to discuss and comment on the issues of the week.