News

23rd October 2002

Pharmaceutical products report passed

Proposals to guarantee a high level of protection for human health through tighter market surveillance and pharmacovigilance procedures were today passed by the European Parliament.

The four main objectives of the proposals are to guarantee a high level of health protection for all EU citizens; to complete the internal market in pharmaceutical projects, to meet the challenge of enlargement and to rationalise and simplify the existing system introduced in 1995.

John Bowis MEP, Conservative Health and Environment Spokesman in the European Parliament, said:

"Our policy is to provide the best possible deal for patients and both encourage research into new drugs and to ensure they are safe, effective and at a price that is affordable.

We give a broad welcome to this proposal which would simplify the existing procedures for approval of medicines and support a balance between encouraging innovation in the pharmaceutical industry and ensure a fair price for health services and patients.

We are however opposed to advertising but support the sensible provision of information to patients about diseases and medicines. For this reason we opposed the British Labour Party's amendment which would have banned patient information campaigns promoted jointly by the Department of Health, the pharmaceutical industry and NGOs."