english.prescrire.org > Annual Prescrire Awards > The Prescrire Awards for 2008 > The 2008 Prescrire Awards for Drugs, Packaging and Information > A look back at drug developments in 2008 > A wide gap between healthcare and patient's needs

The Prescrire Awards for 2008

The 2008 Prescrire Awards for Drugs, Packaging and Information

A look back at drug developments in 2008
A wide gap between healthcare provision and patients’ needs

Much remains to be done to protect patients from needless exposure to potentially harmful drugs, and to facilitate access to care for those who truly need it.

Medication of existence: specific rules needee
There is a growing trend towards the “medication of existence”. Examples include psychotropics for children (la revue Prescrire 296 p. 410- 411), drugs for hot flashes in postmenopausal women, and treatments for fibromyalgia (la revue Prescrire 300 p. 725). The growing market in products for self-medication encourages people to take drugs even when drugs are not necessary (la revue Prescrire 293 p. 217; la revue Prescrire 299 p. 653-654). Faced with this growing pressure, the French authorities should compensate pharmacists based on the quality of advice they provide, and not only on the volume of drugs they sell (la revue Prescrire 301 p. 801).

What patients need from healthcare professionals is time, time to be heard and time to learn, and not just some illusory panacea.

Difficult access to some treatments
Some medical treatments can be difficult to obtain in France, and not just because of cost.

Access to methadone capsules for opiate replacement therapy is particularly complicated. This is a shame after having waited so many years for this more convenient treatment (la revue Prescrire 296 p. 422).

The time limit for the use of mifepristone for pregnancy termination rose from 7 to 9 weeks of gestation, but only in healthcare institutions. Access to abortion is still too difficult in France, mainly due to the insufficient number of physicians authorised to practice drug-induced termination, and sometimes also due to lengthy delays in patient management (la revue Prescrire 291 and 302).

"Morning-after contraception" is difficult to obtain in some pharmacies (la revue Prescrire 300).

©Prescrire April 2009

Source: Prescrire Int 2009; 18 (100): 84-88.