Brussels, 2 July 2007 –The pharmaceutical industry stands ready to play a responsible role in the provision of non promotional, high-quality health information, and thus respond to the European citizens’ legitimate right to benefit from such information. This position was stressed again by EFPIA, the European pharmaceutical industry association, in its response to an EU consultation on information to patients.

“Patients in Europe are not getting the health information they need. Improved access to health information will lead to better prevention and compliance, which can in turn result in more cost-effective healthcare. It is urgent that the debate now turns into actions,” said Arthur J. Higgins, President of the European pharmaceutical industry association (EFPIA) and CEO Bayer Healthcare AG. “The acceptability of health information should depend on its quality rather than on the source providing it.

We as an industry do not support Direct-to-Consumer advertising in Europe, but we call for industry to be enabled (among other information providers) to supply non-promotional, high-quality disease, health-related and treatment information to EU citizens”.

In its contribution, EFPIA sets out seven key principles and objectives for reforming current rules on information to patients and suggests that the Commission comes up with a legal reform allowing high quality information to patients from all information sources based on self-regulatory mechanisms. “We urge decision-makers in all EU institutions to initiate and support a substantial and modern reform of current information regimes in Europe without further delay - for the benefit of public health in general, and patients in particular”, concluded the EFPIA President.