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Pharmaceutical companies and transparency:
the 2006 Information Awards

Prescrire encourages pharmaceutical companies to present clinical evaluation data in a transparent fashion.

Prescrire’s reviews of drugs are based on an extensive literature search that seeks to collect all the evaluation data, especially clinical data.

Prescrire consults numerous sources, including the companies marketing the drugs, in order to analyse all the evaluation data that have resulted in the drug’s being granted a marketing authorisation, including unpublished data.

Companies who respond to Prescrire's queries within a reasonable time and provide the requested data, especially unpublished results, receive the top ranking in Prescrire's Information Awards : 9 such awards were given out for 2006. 2 out of those 9 companies, who responded swiftly to our queries and provided particularly exhaustive and detailed data, received a special distinction.

Other companies either failed to reply to Prescrire’s request or supplied inadequate information. These companies were given a "Red Card" (8 in 2006).

The Information Awards aim to recognise companies whose information policy is responsible (both towards Prescrire, and, through it, towards its 29,000 subscribers and their patients), and to motivate companies who are lagging behind to try harder. Prescrire’s 2006 Information Awards are posted on www.prescrire.org.

©Prescrire February 2007

Source: "Le palmarès 2006 de l’information" Rev Prescrire 2007 ; 27 (280) : 87.

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