New initiatives to break the deadlock on European Commission proposals for advertising and patient information on prescription medicines. To promise them, the new candidate European Commissioner for Health and consumer policies, John Dalli, who spoke in front of the Committee for the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety of the European Parliament to present his programme. According to Dalli there should be "a deeper demarcation between industry and advertising. Patients have the right to have access to adequate information on prescription medicines. We must review the proposals on the table and come up with the best one. If Parliament elects me – he assured – I will act as a guardian of consumer interests". The fact remains that in Europe there is very strong opposition to the possibility of promoting ethics, which has so far only been present in the United States and New Zealand. The commissioner candidate, however, then asked that the less controversial aspects of the package of pharmaceutical legislation be addressed first: among them the initiatives to combat the counterfeiting of medicines and to improve pharmacovigilance. Parliament is expected to vote for the new commissioners on 26 January. The new European Commission will therefore be at work from February and will remain in office until 31 October 2014.
Pharmacist33 – 21 January 2010 – Year 6, Number 9
