Pharmaceutical Technologist - September/October 2008 - (Page 16)

Smoke and mirrors Comparative effectiveness agencies say they provide unbiased information to governments, but is this just rhetoric? Are these agencies more worried about cost than effectiveness? Peter Pitts of Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. I t is currently illegal for drug companies to advertise their products to consumers across Europe, but next month, the European Commission (EC) will decide on whether to allow pharmaceutical firms to disseminate information on their products using airwaves, the internet and print. This change can’t come soon enough. For too long, European bureaucrats have put cost considerations before patient care and kept patients in the dark about alternatives that may better address their specific needs. European officials have spoken about empowering patients with more information on treatment options; for example, in 2006, James Copping, a Principal Administrator of the EC, said: “We want a system where patients can be empowered to take an equal part in healthcare decisions.”1 Thus far, however, no such thing has happened. Consider the European agencies tasked with weighing the relative effectiveness of various treatments, such as the UK’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) or Germany’s Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare (IQWiG). These ‘comparative effectiveness’ agencies exist to supposedly supply governments with unbiased medical information. However, as these organizations are owned and operated by the government, they have a vested interest in keeping costs down, meaning there is an incentive for them to conclude that newer, more expensive medicines are no more effective than older, cheaper ones. An instructive example In 2001, contrary to expert findings by licensing authorities in 65 countries worldwide, NICE cited “insufficient evidence” for not recommending the use 16 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGIST Mark Weiss/Getty Images

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Technologist - September/October 2008

Pharmaceutical Technologist - September/October 2008 Contents Industry Highlights Morpheus Market Watch Smoke and Mirrors Reducing Data Burdens Keeping it Simple Bringing Pharma Up to Date

Pharmaceutical Technologist - September/October 2008

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