EU patients want more information about drugs
As many as 35% of patients in the EU do not always trust their doctors to give good information on prescription medicines, while 41% do not always trust their pharmacists, according to a new survey carried out by independent healthcare consultancy PatientView, in collaboration with the International Alliance of Patients' Organisations (IAPO).
The postal survey, conducted between March and May 2002 among 500 different patients groups from the 15 EU countries, found that patients in Portugal have the most faith in their doctors, with 82% highly trusting them to give reliable information on prescription drugs, compared with only 33% in France and 48% in the UK. In Germany, only 22% highly trusted their pharmacists, compared with 79% in the Netherlands. Patients have the greatest faith in patient organisations to give them trustworthy information, the survey found.
The driving force behind the report is the proposed relaxation by the European Commission of regulations prohibiting the promotion of prescription medicines direct to the public. The rules will be relaxed in three chronic disease areas: asthma, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. A number of governments, notably the Netherlands, argued that the promotion of medicines would push up expenditure on pharmaceuticals and lead to the possible collapse of national health systems. But, says PatientView, the survey shows that European patients are often unaware of all the drugs potentially available to them, and are sometimes unable to get access to vital prescription drugs.
The main purpose of the report was to establish whether patient groups across the EU considered that pharmaceutical companies should provide the public with more information on prescription medicines. The survey revealed that after a decade of health reforms aimed at cost cutting, the majority of patients in Europe are no longer willing to rely on doctors as the most important source of information about their prescription drugs.
In the absence of a truly independent source of information, the majority of patients want prescription drug information to be supplied direct by pharmaceutical companies. Half of the respondents said 'yes' to more information, and another 41% thought that more information was 'possibly' a good idea or should be 'looked at further'.
In an opening commentary to the report, Commissioner Erkki Liikanen suggests that the Commission will appoint the EMEA to police information flowing from pharmaceutical companies to the public.