english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2008 > Prescrire's 2007 Drug Awards: progress for patients

Spotlight: Archives

Every month, the subjects in Prescrire’s Spotlight.

2008 : 1 | 30 | 60

Prescrire's 2007 Drug Awards:
progress for patients

Prescrire's annual awards acknowledge drugs that demonstrate tangible improvements for patients.

Prescrire's annual awards single out drugs that represent real progress for patients. Judged each year by Prescrire's editorial staff, which operates with total independence, the awards are made in accordance with a standardised procedure and subject to published rules. Details are available online at www.prescrire.org. The awards are based on Prescrire's evaluation, carried out over the preceding year, of available evidence on newly approved drugs or on new therapeutic indications granted for existing drugs. Through a rigorous sifting process, drugs are ranked according to the degree of therapeutic progress they offer. Drugs that have made a modest contribution to patient care are deemed "Noteworthy" (there were 7 in 2007). The drugs on Prescrire's "Honours list" (2 in 2007) provide a clear advantage for some patients, when compared with existing therapeutic options, despite certain limitations. Prescrire's "Pilule d'Or" is awarded to drugs that provide a major therapeutic advance in a field where no effective treatment was previously available. The prize is not awarded every year. In 2007, the "Pilule d'Or" was awarded to carglumic acid, a drug which ensures normal, long-term survival of children with a rare, fatal, urea cycle disorder.

©Prescrire February 2008

Source: "Le Palmarès 2007 des médicaments" Rev Prescrire 2008 ; 28 (292) : 85.

- More articles in Prescrire's "Spotlight"...