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The Rational Use of Medicines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Lars Werkö
Affiliation:
The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care

Abstract

A short description is given of the interplay between the pharmaceutical industry and its critics regarding the rational use of medicines since the 1960s. This was especially vigorous in the developing countries but also had ramifications in the industrialized world. The initiatives taken by the World Health Organization in starting a dialogue between the industry representatives in the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations and the critical voices of Health Action International are specially emphasized. The recent developments in the therapy of primary hypertension and peptic ulcer are discussed briefly as examples of the rapid changes in what should be rational in pharmacologic treatment of disease.

Type
Special Section: The Rational Use of Therapeutic Drugs
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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