Innovative Medicines Should Be Used More, Not Less To Benefit Patients, UK
In fact, the UK lags behind the rest of Europe in the uptake of modern medicines and - if companies did not provide relevant, ethical information to doctors about them - the problem would be worse still.
The assertion that NHS doctors prescribe too many branded medicines is contradicted by the fact that 82 per cent of all prescriptions are written generically and the UK is bottom of the league compared with other, similar countries in prescribing modern medicines.
The £850 million spend on marketing activity, quoted by the Committee of Public Accounts, has to be seen in the context of the NHS expenditure on medicines, which is about £11 billion, and the pharmaceutical industry's investment in research and development of new medicines - £3.3 billion a year in the UK alone.
"The facts simply do not back the assertion that doctors are unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry's marketing activities," said Dr Richard Barker, Director General of the ABPI. "Not only is the UK the poor relation of comparable countries worldwide in terms of prescribing new, innovative medicines but we also have the highest prescribing rates for generics.
"Would any other industry be expected to spend an average of £500 million on developing a new product and then be criticised for telling people about it?
"Money spent on informing doctors of the latest treatments available to benefit patients is money well spent. The evidence shows that, far from branded medicines being over-prescribed in the UK, the reverse is true."
Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
Medicamentele inovatoare trebuie sã fie utilizat Mai mult, nu mai puþin Pentru a beneficia Pacienþii, Marea Britanie - Innovative Medicines Should Be Used More, Not Less To Benefit Patients, UK - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate