EU initiatives on patient information to be tested

Philippe Brunet, deputy head of cabinet to EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, said at a conference in Budapest that the Commission had asked the forum to explore new approaches to patient information in the areas of diabetes and heart disease.

The forum, created in November 2005 by EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, brings together European Commission and Parliament members, member states and other players such as the pharmaceutical industry, for informal discussions on medicine-related issues.

The forum, which will have a plenary meeting on September 29, has three working groups - on relative effectiveness (a term covering cost-effectiveness), prices and patient information.

Treatments for diabetes and heart disease would be "good examples" to use for new approaches to patient information, said Brunet at the annual conference of the European Association of Pharmaceutical Full-Line Wholesalers (GIRP). "By information, we mean up-to-date, reliable information, only allowed if it brings added value to patients," he said. However, Brunet made clear that new approaches to patient information had "no connection" with medicines advertising.

This subject of advertising was broached when the European Commission started the process of reforming pharmaceutical legislation in July 2001. The Industry Commissioner at that time, Erkki Liikanen from Finland, had suggested in his proposal the possibility of direct-to-consumer advertising by the EU industry.

However, this part of the Commission's proposal was quickly dropped in the face of the outcry it produced, especially from consumers' associations which thought that it opened the door to American-style advertising, currently outlawed in the EU.

The evaluation of the relative effectiveness of medicines - a concept similar to cost-effectiveness - is currently carried out by national bodies, such as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in England and the French Health Products Safety Agency (Afssaps)'s Transparency Commission. For Brunet, it is logical that part of this task should be carried out at a European level, as most products are approved centrally.

Speaking of medicines pricing, Brunet said that it was necessary to adopt new approaches in this area, especially for demographic reasons. He told the audience, which was made up of representatives from the European pharmaceutical wholesale industry, that it would not be possible to continue with the current system of margins in EU member states.