News in Brief

The EU's Emerging Biopharmaceutical Enterprises group has called for member states to redouble their efforts to promote orphan drugs, claiming that incentives for companies to develop them are being stymied by a lack of market authorisations in Europe. It claims the rate at which these are issued is less than half as fast as in the US.

The Council of Europe's Bioethics Steering Committee has approved a protocol to harmonise ethical and legal standards in biomedical research. If it is ratified by all 45 member countries of the Council of Europe, it will guarantee minimum standards of protection for research subjects across all of Europe. The protocol outlines the circumstances in which researchers can use placebo drugs, without depriving patients of much-needed medicine, and includes rules for research in emergency situations; for instance on comatose patients unable to give their consent. The protocol will be referred to the Council's Committee of Ministers for final approval.

The rising cost of pharmaceuticals is a key reason why the world's rich developed countries are spending more on healthcare than ever before, according to the OECD. On average, countries spent 8.4% of their GDP on health in 2001, up 0.3% on 2000, it said. This reflected 'the introduction of new and more expensive drugs', with pharmaceutical spending rising by more than 70% between 1990 and 2001 in Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and the US. Pharmaceuticals now command more than 10% of health spending in nearly all OECD countries, and over 20% in France and Italy.