UK pilot of DoH-ABPI "toolkit"

A new joint working scheme in the UK between the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and Ashton, Leigh and Wigan Primary Care Trust has been announced, the day after the launch of a government-industry "toolkit" designed to encourage such cooperation. The pilot venture involves bringing additional resources to the PCT as it commissions programs to evaluate patients' conditions against the treatment they are receiving and to find better ways of providing care.

For drugmakers, there is the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of how they can help other National Health Service organizations to implement this new agenda.

Martin Anderson, the ABPI's director of NHS policy and partnerships, said: "targeted and ethical joint working between the industry and the NHS can bring great benefits to patients and the NHS, and this latest cooperative venture is a prime example of the sort of endeavor that we and the government are seeking to encourage." He added that "the new guidance and its associated toolkit, issued jointly by the Department of Health and the ABPI, encourage PCTs to work with the industry in appropriate areas. It is in everyone's interest to do so - as this latest agreement with Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT demonstrates."