The European Commission's proposal to allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise prescription drugs alarms some consumer groups. "The proposal is clearly driven by commercial interests and not by those of patients," says the Picker Institute, a group that fights for patients' rights, in the British newspaper 'Guardian'. "This plan will allow companies to give information directly to patients and to use all available media to do so," a spokesperson for the group added. An accusation rejected by the sender by EFPIA, the Federation of European Pharmaceutical Industry Associations, according to which the mass media would not be "ideal for the industry, in order to communicate information on specific prescription drugs to European citizens", as explained Arthur Higgins, president of EFPIA and CEO of Bayer Healthcare. After years of debate, he added, an answer must be given without further delay to the need for information of Europeans, which is patient-centred.
Source "Pharmacist33"
