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Prescrire: independent and transparent

Prescrire has relied solely upon its subscribers for funding since 1993, and has been making its accounts public since 1992.

Prescrire believes it has a duty of transparency towards its subscribers, who are its sole source of income.

Prescrire is one of the world's only educational publications for healthcare professionals that is completely independent from the pharmaceutical industry, and also does not depend upon any public funding. This is a deliberate choice, based not upon principle, but upon pragmatism.

Prescrire was born in the late 1970s from the realisation that to maintain the necessary objectivity, a quality professional publication must be financially independent from pharmaceutical companies. At that point it was decided to opt for ministerial funding to support a venture that would benefit the cause of public health.

This subsidy enabled Prescrire to get off the ground and to develop over a 12-year period. But in the end this funding came with strings attached, and Prescrire concluded that ultimately even a sound, determined team was always dependent upon its source of financing. Prescrire decided to opt for maximum independence, in other words to rely only upon subscribers, and such has been the case since 1993.

©Prescrire March 2006

Source: "Choisir ses dépendances" Rev Prescrire 2006 ; 26 (270) : 161.

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