english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2005 > Drug regulatory agencies: their public role should be reinforced

Spotlight: Archives

Every month, the subjects in Prescrire’s Spotlight.

2005 : 1 | 30 | 60

Drug regulatory agencies:
their public role should be reinforced

Irish citizens ask their prime minister to restore the drug regulatory agency's role as defender of the public interest.

Patients around the world are increasingly calling for the implementation of drugs policies and regulatory measures that truly protect patients' health. In Ireland, a citizens' petition is demanding the establishment of a pharmacovigilance body to monitor the adverse drug effects, funded 100% from the public purse and whose mission is to protect the population -- as opposed to the Irish drug regulatory agency, which is currently funded entirely by the pharmaceutical industry.

The Irish petition calls for greater transparency, in particular regarding adverse drug effects. It calls for the Irish drug regulatory body, considered too biased in favour of pharmaceutical companies, to truly defend the public interest.

This petition concerns citizens of all EU countries, because all the national and European drug regulatory agencies are over-reliant on the pharmaceuticals industry.

This move should be encouraged by all those who are concerned about the granting of marketing authorisations, risk monitoring and drugs information.

©Prescrire June 2005

Source: "Redresser le cap des agences du médicament : l'exemple irlandais" Rev Prescrire 2005 ; 25 (262) : 461-462.

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