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Prescrire's accounts: independence is possible

Financed solely through subscriptions, Prescrire is an information and training organisation that is fully independent, both from pharmaceutical companies and from health authorities. This financial independence is essential in order to maintain true independence of thought.

Prescrire publishes the accounts of the Association Mieux Prescrire in its March issue, as it has done each year since 1992. The accounts are also published in English in the June issue of Prescrire International.

By publishing its accounts, Prescrire is setting a concrete example of the transparency that is so crucial in the field of medicinal products, where commercial conflicts of interest are rife.

Association Mieux Prescrire is financed exclusively by the subscribers to its various publications: the journals Prescrire and Prescrire International, and the Prescrire electronic library, distance learning and continuing education programmes. Prescrire is therefore financed exclusively by its 29,000 subscribers, chiefly practising or trainee healthcare professionals.

Prescrire is an information and training organisation that is fully independent, both from pharmaceutical companies and from health authorities. This financial independence is essential in order to maintain true independence of thought.

Through Prescrire, healthcare professionals demonstrate that they are capable of financing an independent source of top-level training as an indication of their commitment to quality care in the interests of the patients who rely on them.

Prescrire invites its subscribers to formalise this demand by signing the "Non merci…" (No thank you) Charter. Available online at www.prescrire.org, the Charter aims to eradicate conflicts of interest and dependency on pharmaceutical companies by healthcare professionals.

Which also sets a good example for patients and patient groups.

©Prescrire June 2010

"The finances of Association Mieux Prescrire: 2009 Prescrire Annual Report" Prescrire Int 2010; 19 (107): 138-139 (pdf, subscribers only).

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Pdf, subscribers only

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"Non merci": Prescrire =
no conflicts of interest