Patients & Patient Groups: Emerging Partners?

Patient education is becoming increasingly important, as patients areno longer just taxpayers; they now want and have more information and knowledge about medicines, said Rene Dereque, vice chairman, president of IMS International, opening the 10th IMS International Symposium in Brussels, Belgium, last week.

New technology will have a great impact on health care, he said. Of particular relevance are the availability of information on the Internet and progress through biotechnology. As patients assume more power, they will have to take on greater responsibility, and the challenge is making informed decisions in an ever-more complex legal and social environment around the world.

Noelle Lenoir, president of the Group of Advisors to the European Commission on the Ethical Implications of Biotechnology, and president of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's International Bioethics Committee, said that while the doctor still remains the key player in the health care system, there is now a multiplicity of actors, including patients, public health authorities and the industry. Patients' status has evolved, and reflects the public's education now that the doctor is only one source of patient information, she said. They want more responsibility, including freedom of choice as to the drugs and treatments on offer.