english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2014 > Independent French medical journal Prescrire announces its Information Awards for 2013: a handful of companies are honoured, but too many lag behind

Spotlight: Archives

Every month, the subjects in Prescrire’s Spotlight.

2014 : 1 | 30 | 60

Independent French medical journal Prescrire announces its Information Awards for 2013: a handful of companies are honoured, but too many lag behind

Pharmaceutical companies' transparency, essential to their credibility, is a critical component in the choice of a drug, ranking just behind efficacy, adverse effects, ease of use and price. The annual Information Awards from the editors of the non-profit French medical journal Prescrire reveal which companies practice transparency and which ones fall short.

Prescrire's analyses of new drugs and new indications of drugs already on the market are based upon a far-reaching literature search bringing together all the evaluation data, including data from clinical trials.

For each drug analysed, Prescrire examines sources which include the international biomedical literature, journals independent of the pharmaceutical industry, and information requested from drug regulatory agencies. Prescrire also requests information from the relevant pharmaceutical company (or companies), especially to obtain whatever unpublished data they may possess.

Prescrire's Information Awards reflect the quality and timeliness of the information that companies provided for the drugs reviewed in the French journal La revue Prescrire over the preceding year.

For 2013, Prescrire commends the responsible companies who provided complete and pertinent information within a reasonable time frame. Eight companies are on Prescrire's Honours List, including one deemed “Outstanding" for having kept Prescrire informed in a most timely manner and having provided data that were particularly comprehensive and detailed. This shows that the teams working at some companies understand that providing quality information is a part of their duty, since this information leads to better use of medicines.

On the other hand, 9 companies are singled out with "Red Cards" for having failed to respond or having responded sporadically to Prescrire's requests for information, or for responding only at the last minute. The “Red Cards" handed out represent certain companies' repeated failure to provide information.

©Prescrire 1 February 2014

"The 2013 Prescrire Awards" Prescrire Int 2014; 23 (147): 79-83. Pdf, free

Download the full review
Pdf, free

The Prescrire Information
Awards for 2013
(February 2014)
Free