Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14326

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Campbell D.
NHS drug bill faces EU threat
The Observer (Guardian) 2008 Sep 21
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/21/pharmaceuticals.nhs?gusrc=rss&feed=society

Full text:

The NHS’s £11bn annual bill for drugs could soar if pharmaceutical companies are allowed to start pushing promotional ‘information’ about their products directly to patients, claim health and consumer groups.

The European Union will next month unveil plans to let drug firms use the media to give information about prescription-only medicines. But opponents argue the controversial proposals would come close to contravening the longstanding ban on companies advertising branded drugs.

The British Medical Association, Which? and Royal College of Physicians are among nine leading organisations that have written a joint letter to the European Commission urging it to abandon its plan to allow direct-to-consumer information.

They fear that if this is allowed, patients will start demanding specific drugs they have seen promoted and reduce doctors’ ability to prescribe cheaper alternatives. That happened in America after it relaxed its rules in 1997 to permit such material.

‘If we increase the demand for branded medicines the NHS drugs bill could go sky-high, putting its finite resources under threat,’ said Pete Moorey, the public affairs manager at Which?.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry declined to comment.