Public health
Patients to get more transparency and better information on prescription medicines after EP vote
The European Parliament environment committee today voted on proposed new EU legislation dealing with information on prescription medicines. The Greens welcomed the vote, which transformed the original legislative proposal and tailored it to the needs of patients, rather than the pharma industry. After the vote, Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter said:
"MEPs have voted today to put the interests of patients and consumers first when it comes to prescription medication. The Greens worked with MEPs from other groups to transform this legislative proposal from one driven by the interests of the media and pharma industries, into legislation setting out what information patients should have access to.
"As a result of today's vote, the legislation now provides greater transparency on prescription medication based on patients' needs, rather than information to promote the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry. Pharma firms would have to provide official documents (e.g. summary of product characteristics, package leaflet, assessment report) on their websites, or in printed form upon request, and may provide some other information based on quality criteria and subject to approval by the competent authorities or the European Medicines Agency upon specific request. So the information will be 'pulled' according to needs, rather than 'pushed' based on what the industry wants to make available."
