This year Prescrire's top honour, the  "Pilule d'Or" ("Golden Pill") was not awarded, but 3 drugs were singled out for recognition. There was no Packaging Award, but 4 "Yellow Cards" and 9 "Red Cards" were handed out to medicines for packaging that was judged substandard or dangerous. Seven pharmaceutical companies were honoured for the information provided to Prescrire's Editorial Staff.

A debate on the theme of therapeutic progress featured a lively exchange of ideas, all in the name of improving the quality of patient care

The texts of the presentations by the following speakers are available for download:

Irène Frachon
Pneumologist
“L’enquête benfluorex (Mediator°) ou le combat d’un praticien pour protéger les patients d’un médicament à mauvaise balance bénéfices-risques”
("The benfluorex (Mediator°) investigation, or one practitioner's fight to protect patients from a drug with an unfavourable risk-benefit balance")
> Download the text of the presentation (pdf in French, 786 Ko)

Beate Wieseler
Drug Assessment Department, Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWIG)
"How, and on whose behalf, should the "added therapeutic value" of a new drug be assessed?"
> Download the text of the presentation (pdf in English, 96 Ko)

Olivier Huyghe
Prescrire
“Palmarès de l’information – Prescrire porte plainte contre l’Agence européenne du médicament (EMA)"
("The Prescrire Information Awards: Prescrire files a complaint against the European Medicines Agency (EMA)")
> Download the text of the presentation (pdf in French, 210 Ko)

Gilles Mignot
Prescrire
"Palmarès des nouveaux médicaments - 30 ans d’évaluation des médicaments par Prescrire à grands traits”
("The Prescrire Drug Awards: highlights of 30 years of drug evaluations by Prescrire")
> Download the text of the presentation (pdf in French, 211 Ko)

The 2010 Prescrire Awards
The complete results in English of the Prescrire Drug, Information and Packaging Awards will be online in March at www.english.prescrire.org, and published in the March issue of Prescrire International.
> Click here for the online dossier "Annual Prescrire Awards"

©Prescrire 27 January 2011