Information to patients to take back seat in EU's pharma package
The European Commission will continue to debate the issue of patient information and communication, particularly with regard to website content, in its pharma package, but the debate will take a back seat, according to Georgette Lalis, the European Commission's director for DG Enterprise and Industry, speaking at the European Generic Medicines Association (EGA) annual meeting in Barcelona.
The European Commission will continue to debate the issue of patient information and communication, particularly with regard to website content, in its pharma package, but the debate will take a back seat, according to Georgette Lalis, the European Commission's director for DG Enterprise and Industry, speaking at the European Generic Medicines Association (EGA) annual meeting in Barcelona.
Initially pharma companies had high hopes that they would be allowed considerably greater freedom to communicate with end users of their products. But Lalis, who is heavily involved in the development of the EU pharma package, told the conference that although the proposals will continue to go through the EU parliament and council, they will not be a priority.
"We still believe these proposals are necessary," she said, but added: "We think that it will progress at a slower speed and intensity compared with the other parts of the pharma package, and the final outcome may be different from our initial proposal and I think we will be able to live with that."
However, Lalis did not confirm how long the process would take, aside from the fact that the new parliament must be voted in and hear the proposals first.