Nostrapharmus considers whether a label will be enough or whether educating the populous about how to use drugs will become a key marketing activity by 2020. Do pharma companies owe more to their ultimate customers?
There are many drivers for an improvement in the quality of drug usage information provided by pharma companies:
- The pressure of healthcare cost reductions is reducing the time that doctors have to consult with their patients. Inevitably the time available will tend to be spent on making the best possible diagnosis and less will be available for instruction on how to use the prescribed drug
- These cost pressures, together with an objective to simplify aspects of regulation in the EU, are creating an environment that is pushing for an increase in the patient's ability to self-medicate. This is exemplified by the recent legislation enabling products to be switched from Prescription Only Medicine (POM) to P ('available in' Pharmacy) status across all EU member states simultaneously. A key foundation for these switches is the establishment of rigorous risk management approaches, principally targeted towards better education of the patient on the appropriate usage of the product.
- The requirements to assess safety risk management requirements of new pharma products has led to an increase in formal commitments to the management of risk. Again, this is often achieved through training in drug use and led to an increase in the development of educational programmes for physicians and patients. This legislation has driven a huge rise in the development of medication guides in the US, similar to the EU patient information leaflet (PIL), which aims to provide more information on appropriate drug use.
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