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Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Should There Be a Free Market in Healthcare Information?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2005

ANDREAS HASMAN  and
SØREN HOLM
ANDREAS HASMAN
Affiliation:
Picker Institute, United Kingdom, and Green College, Oxford
SØREN HOLM
Affiliation:
Cardiff Institute of Health, Society and Ethics, Cardiff Law School, Wales, and the Centre for Medical Ethics, University of Oslo
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Extract

On June 3, 2003, the European Council of health ministers rejected a proposal from the European Commission to allow drug manufacturers to advertise directly to particular groups of patients; the proposal had already been rejected by the European Parliament subsequent to a heated public debate in which consumer and patient groups almost unanimously argued that it was not the role of drug companies to provide information to patients. The pilot scheme suggested by the Commission would only have applied to patients with three chronic diseases, AIDS, diabetes, and asthma, and would, it was argued, not undermine an overall ban. Drug companies would have been required to abide by a special code of conduct and clear any information given to patients—on web sites or in specialized publications—with national authorities.

Type
Special Section: Open Forum
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 42 - 49
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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