An ABPI/Long-term Conditions Alliance paper and consultation document. The key issues involved in balancing, for ourselves as patients and carers, the benefits and risks of medical treatments and a consultation on the way forward. Comments by 30 June 2008.

This short film focuses on the role of the pharmaceutical industry in this country.

ABPI President Elect, Chris Brinsmead, has been appointed Chairman of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals UK, leading AstraZeneca UK strategy on external affairs across its businesses, including sales and marketing, discovery, development and manufacturing operations.

In February 2007, the Ministerial Industry Strategy Group published its Long-Term Leadership Strategy for medicines. To encourage joint working between the NHS and ABPI it recommended that the Department would develop an interactive toolkit to support this.

The purpose of this toolkit is to encourage NHS organisations and staff to consider joint working as a realistic option for the delivery of high-quality healthcare and to provide the necessary information and have easy access to the tools which will help to enter into joint working.

The International Federation of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) has published a report on the pharmaceutical industry's contribution to global health. This document is available from the IFPMA website.

The ABPI Annual Dinner is the highlight of the year for the Industry. On 30 April I will hand over the chain of office to Chris Brinsmead, Managing Director of AstraZeneca, and would like you to join me in welcoming the incoming President, celebrate the successes of 2007 and prepare for the challenges that face us in 2008.

Comments and suggestions are now invited on the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry’s (ABPI) Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry. The next version of the Code will come into operation on 1 July 2008. The Code and its operation is being revised following the introduction of a revised European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) Code covering interactions between the pharmaceutical industry and health professionals and the publication of a new EFPIA Code covering relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and patient organisations.

Anyone is welcome to send comments to by e-mail or by post to Heather Simmonds, Director, PMCPA, 12 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY. More information on the consultation can be found on the PMCPA website.

Following the programme of reform set out in the government's review of healthcare professional regulation in the White Paper, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) Council has commissioned an independent inquiry, chaired by Nigel Clarke, into the possible options for a new professional leadership body for pharmacy. This consultation paper sets the options and includes a series of questions as an initial guide for the pharmacy profession, to encourage evidence submissions from all interested parties (by e-mail). The inquiry will then hold a series of public evidence meetings with the profession, nationally, throughout November, December and January, and formal evidence sessions will take place in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff during this time. The consultation period will close 31 January 2008 and the final report will be presented to the RPSGB in mid-March in time for the council meeting in April 2008. The ABPI is planning to respond to the inquiry, if you would like more information please contact Martin Anderson.

All too often, patients in the UK do not know enough about their medicines, have difficulty finding more information and are confused by the complexity of the material they do find.  In conjunction with other partners - in particular, the Ask About Medicines (AAM) initiative - the ABPI and the UK-based pharmaceutical industry have been working on a variety of schemes to address this issue.  This video gives one patient's point of view of the delivery of medicines information in the UK.

In February 2006, the MISG agreed to establish a Panel (The MISG New Technologies Advisory Panel) and a Forum , jointly sponsored by the MHRA and the ABPI, to discuss future challenges in the regulation of pharmaceuticals.Organisations and members of the public are hereby invited to submit proposals for topics to be discussed by the Advisory Panel and Forum for this meeting. The closing date for receipt of topics is 28 September 2007.