The European Union Pharmaceutical forum far from consensus

The EU high-level pharmaceutical forum still has a long way to go before tabling a consensus on the structural changes needed to improve competitiveness of the European pharmaceutical industry.


RELATED: * 'Member states want to block any change on pharmaceuticals'

The High Level Pharmaceutical Forum was established in June 2005 to examine the competitiveness of the EU's pharmaceutical industry and related public-health issues. It examines drugs pricing policies in member states to determine a balance between controlling expenditure, improving access to medicines and rewarding innovation.

The forum continues the work of the G10 Medicines Group on three issues: information to patients, relative effectiveness and pricing/reimbursement.

The High Level Pharmaceutical Forum published a progress report in its first meeting on 29 September 2006. The report describes the progress done on the three areas and gives directions for future work in the form of conclusions. None of the working groups has as yet achieved real results and much remains to be discussed before the forum is expected to deliver concrete results in June 2007.

The Information to patients working group has made the most progress since it was established in January 2006. Its work has concentrated on developing a 'model information package' on diseases using diabetes as an example, and on improving patient access to quality health information in all EU languages.

The working group on Pricing/Reimbursement (control of expenditure) is encouraged, in order to make further progress, to clarify views on the value of innovation in order to establish a sound basis for further discussion between stakeholders.

The working group on Relative effectiveness (assessing the effectiveness of medicines in comparison with other treatment options) aims to improve the degree of consensus between member states on the nature of the data required to carry out cost-effectiveness and relative effectiveness assessments and on the procedure to provide these data.

To read the whole article: http://www.euractiv.com/en/health/pharmaceutical-forum-far-consensus/article-158590?Source=RSS

Source
http://www.euractiv.com/en/health/pharmaceutical-forum-far-consensus/article-158590?Source=RSS

EAHP - EPSA Student Science Award

Beginning in 2007, EAHP will offer the Science Award to EPSA students to recognise and honour the best science research manuscript authored by undergraduate student(s).

This award recognises the student(s) for significant intellectual contributions that promise to promote the state of the art in hospital pharmacy and pharmaceutical research methods or theories.

Submission deadline: 15 November 2006

For more info, please visit EAHP http://www.eahp.eu/asp/news_detail.asp?ID=86&m=1

High-Tech Pharmacies are Safer for Patients

Using bar coding in the hospital pharmacy may help prevent dangerous prescription errors, according to a new study.

Reporting in the Sept. 19 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston compared the rates of medication dispensing errors before and after bar coding technology was implemented at the hospital pharmacy.

With the new technology, every dose of medication was affixed with a bar code, and these codes were scanned in as an additional step to ensure that the right medications were being dispensed. Without the bar coding, the pharmacists relied on visual inspections alone to make sure they were dispensing the right medication.

After implementing the bar coding technology, the rate of dispensing errors fell by 85 percent, and the rate of dispensing errors with the potential to harm patients fell by 63 percent.

The bar coding technology was most effective when it required the pharmacy staff to scan all doses of medications.

"Overall, the use of bar code scanning technology appears to have a significant impact on the rate of dispensing errors that were serious enough to potentially harm patients," lead author Eric Poon, an associate physician in the hospital's department of general medicine, said in a prepared statement.

Source

http://www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/535002.html

The elderly are at risk of drug errors

The elderly are at risk of accidentally harming themselves by taking potentially lethal mixtures of medicines, an expert says.

Pharmacist Kim Munro, of Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University, found just 16% of patients were receiving help with taking their drugs. He surveyed 695 people aged 78 to 86 living in sheltered housing. The poll revealed half were taking more than five different medicines a day, with one in five taking at least 12. Some 14% of the sample were using highly toxic medicines such as warfarin. Meanwhile, anti-inflammatory and blood pressure drugs taken by more than half the people had a high risk of side effects.

The survey, presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester, also suggested the risk of making mistakes was increased by frequent changes in elderly people's medication routines.

Source - full article

BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5321450.stm

Patients want better access to healthcare info

There is a need for a shift to a more patient-centred approach to healthcare and, especially, more efficient communication on disease and treatment options for patients, concludes a recent study on patient-organisation members' perception on the state of healthcare. A patient-centred approach aims to integrate the needs and expectations of patients into national healthcare systems, in particular by improving patients' access to treatment and information, ensuring their participation in healthcare decision-making and involvement in policy-making.

The Perceptions of healthcare survey, done for IAPO, the global alliance representing patients of all nationalities across all disease areas, includes input from ten EU member states. The study includes an analysis of the quality of healthcare and identifies the major challenges for improvements of government health-care policies. Patient organisations agree on three needs:

• timely access to the best treatment and information;
• right to participate in decision at the individual patient level, and;
• patient involvement in policy-making.

One of the Pharmaceutical Forum's main issues is information for patients. A multi-stakeholder group is currently working on developing a future EU health information strategy. Specific working groups have discussed, since early 2006, non-statutory information, statutory information and accessibility.

The Commission 2004 communication on patient mobility highlights the need to ensure access to the right information regarding the quality and availability of health services in different member states.

Source

http://www.euractiv.com/en/health/patients-want-better-access-healthcare-info/article-157327?Source=RSS

Doctors highlight risks of buying drugs from online pharmacies

A woman who bought drugs on the internet and took them for four years went blind as a result, doctors say.

The case highlights the dangers of the multimillion-pound international market in prescription medicines available from online pharmacies across the globe.The easy availability of drugs has allowed many people to bypass their doctors and self-prescribe medicines which they hope will boost their energy, improve their sex life or help them lose weight.

The 64-year-old woman from Sunderland diagnosed herself with chronic fatigue syndrome and, on the advice of a neighbour, bought oral steroids from an online pharmacy in Thailand. She later complained of loss of vision and doctors at Sunderland Eye Infirmary found cataracts in both eyes and signs of glaucoma (high pressure), both side effects of steroid use.

Dr Philip Severn and Dr Scott Fraser, consultant ophthalmologists, writing in The Lancet, warn colleagues to watch for patients who may have bought drugs online. "Some of the drug therapies can be counterfeit and contain a concoction of compounds that bear little resemblance to the drug named on the bottle," they say.

"Even if the patient receives the actual drug, there are many problems with this unchecked availability, including interactions with coexisting treatment, side effects and the lack of careful medical monitoring."

Popular lifestyle drugs including Viagra for impotence, Reductil for weight loss and Prozac for depression are among the biggest internet sellers. Many internet pharmacies offer online prescriptions allowing patients to consult a doctor by e-mail instead. The British Medical Association is opposed to the practice but it is not against the law.

The General Medical Council has successfully prosecuted doctors for inappropriate prescribing and failing to make adequate diagnoses over the internet.

Websites based abroad, which may use a ".co.uk" address, are not subject to British jurisdiction, and many sell medicines without a prescription as well as controlled drugs, such as stimulants and opiate-based painkillers.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has warned of the growing problem of counterfeit drugs. Every year, the agency seizes £3m of stolen or faked Viagra, the best-selling internet drug.

Dr Fraser said he had heard of the dangers of buying drugs over the internet but it was the first time he had seen the effects. "Most patients aren't going to say if they have bought drugs over the Net," he said. "Buying drugs in this way is a gamble. Even if it is the right drug and it is not a counterfeit, because she wasn't monitored, she suffered the side effects.

"I am not saying doctors must be in control of all prescriptions, but with steroids, although they are life-saving drugs, patients must be monitored because of the side effects, which included diabetes, bone loss and eye problems."

The woman had catar-acts removed from both eyes and will require treatment for glaucoma for the rest of her life, Dr Fraser added.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society said it was developing a register of approved online pharmacies.

Available onthe internet

* Viagra, made by Pfizer, for impotence. About £50 for four tablets. Most widely sold prescription drug on the internet.

* Xenical, made by Roche, for weight loss. About £65 for 85 capsules. Marketed as a potential panacea for the obesity epidemic.

* Prozac, made by Eli Lilley, for depression. About £20 for 30 tablets. The best known anti-depressant, with low toxicity compared to older drugs.

* Valium, made by Roche, for anxiety. About £50 for 30 tablets. Known as mother's little helper, it is effective but addictive.

* Ritalin, made by Novartis, for attention deficit disorder. About £20 for 60 tablets. Abused by students and others to increase concentration.

* Lipitor, made by Pfizer, for high cholesterol. About £40 for 30 tablets. The world's best-selling drug - counterfeit versions exist.



Source

You can find the complete article:
The Independent online http://news.independent.co.uk/

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article1218435.ece
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Published: 11 August 2006