Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7095

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: media release

Pharmaceutical Firms' Compliance Support Programmes: No Thank You!
La revue Prescrire 2006 Dec 18

Abstract:

Pharmaceutical firms are really not the best people to remind patients to take their medicine. A French project for pharmaceutical firms to be allowed to run compliance support programmes must be defeated.

Treatment compliance, i.e. the patient following the health professionals’
(doctor and pharmacist) recommendations, has good and bad sides. Sometimes it is a pity for the patient to stop the treatment too soon. But there are times when the patient is right, in the case of persistent ineffectiveness, confirmed recovery or excessive adverse effects. In any case, it is better for the patient to discuss the matter with trusted health professionals. And common sense suggests that the pharmaceutical firms, whose main concern is their drugs’ sales volume, are really not best placed to advise patients on the matter directly.

Yet the pharmaceutical firms are trying to set up their “compliance support”
programmes around the world. Their real aim is to curb the loss of revenue due to patients stopping their expensive treatments for chronic illnesses.

These “compliance support” programmes are sneaking onto the French scene.
French deputies will be called upon on 11 January 2007 to let the government legalise these programmes by decree, and therefore there will be no possibility of debating the issue!

La revue Prescrire calls on the deputies to refuse to allow this debate to be taken out of their hands and to ask a simple question: how is it possible to imagine that a pharmaceutical firm, both judge and judged, is capable of explaining to a patient that it would be better to halt or change their treatment to that of a rival firm?

Keywords:
concordance government agencies laws policy doctors pharmacists information sources beliefs influence placement improvement benefits harms