NEWS FROM HAI EUROPE AND THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC HEALTH ALLIANCE

DEBATE OPENS ON DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER
DRUG PROMOTION IN EUROPE

Brussels, 11 January 2001

Yesterday in Brussels, the opening volleys in a vigorous debate on prescription drug advertising legislation were fired. Health Action International (HAI) Europe and the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) hosted a one-day international symposium to discuss a proposed change to EU legislation to allow drug companies to advertise AIDS, asthma, and diabetes medications to the public. The conference concluded that the EU does not need to relax its current advertising laws to provide quality drug information to consumers.

Consumer advocates and public health officials attending expressed concern that the likely outcome of this proposal will be a US-style spiral of unsustainable health care spending and contribute to the unsafe or unnecessary use of drugs in Europe. Attendees expressed concern that this proposal moves Europe in the direction of American-style Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of pharmaceuticals which is currently illegal in Europe for public health reasons.

"Drug advertising is a grave threat to public safety," said Barbara Mintzes, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and a leading expert on DTCA. "With nearly 20 years experience of drug advertising in the US there's no evidence that it improves patient health. The only benefits are found in the profits of drug companies. Pretty much everyone else, patients, and public health systems, loses".

Governments also expressed reservations about the proposed change. Mr. Léon Wever, Director of Pharmaceutical Affairs with the Dutch Health Ministry emphasised that the proposed law was unclear. "If it is about information, not advertising, then there is no need to change the law." When asked, he said that the Dutch government would vote against this proposed change and confirmed that his government is exposed to daily pressure from the pharmaceutical industry in the Netherlands to relax the advertising prohibitions.

HAI and EPHA concluded the conference by dismissing the European Commission's proposal and called instead for the Commission to be explicit about what the driving force is behind this proposal and to work to strengthen, not liberalise, the laws that protect the public and health professionals from biased commercial drug information. Representatives of government, patient groups, health advocates, health professionals and the pharmaceutical industry attending this conference all agreed that consumers need better access to quality, objective consumer drug information but many questioned whether the pharmaceutical industry is the ideal vehicle to provide such information.