Ask About Medicines Week
In October, ‘Ask About Medicines Week’ encouraged the public to seek information about their medicines. The ABPI and a number of pharmaceutical companies were actively involved in the planning and delivery of this valuable initiative, which involved a broad range of industry and health service organisations. A major objective of Ask About Medicines Week was to improve access to further sources of helpful, reliable medicines advice and information which will help users. Four hundred organisations pledged their support, including more than 150 Primary Care Trusts.

As part of the week, the ABPI contributed core funding and consultancy support to the National Patient Survey, which is expected to culminate in a Medicines Partnership publication. It assisted in the development and distribution of 200,000 copies of the Health and Medicines Information Guide and Directory. It also supplied input to the Medicines Information project, led by Datapharm and NHSDirect Online, which provided up-to-date information about medicines to the public in the form of Medicines Guides.

As a partner in the provision of healthcare in the UK, the ABPI cemented existing relationships with the organisations and individuals involved and were viewed as having acted responsibly and credibly throughout the programme of work. Through the information directory, it became more widely accepted that web sites sponsored by pharmaceutical companies can be a trusted, reliable and helpful source of medicines information.

Better information for the public and patients
Proposals for changes by the European Commission will almost certainly bring about changes in the UK. The Association has aimed to influence the possible changes to EU legislation, which would have changed the way that information about medicines is communicated to the public.

Although initial proposals were not adopted, more recent developments may mean further work will be necessary to achieve an acceptable solution. The ABPI has drafted Principles of Good Practice on Communicating about Prescription Medicines to the Public, and has worked with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to publish Disease Awareness Guidelines.

In addition, it has worked towards an acceptance by regulators and key stakeholders about Internet guidelines in the UK. This is a key element in demonstrating that the pharmaceutical industry should be recognised as having a legitimate right to provide factual information on its products directly to patients.

In order to underline these issues with the media and the public, the ABPI has published Myths and Realities, and SCAN, a regular horizon-scanning briefing for patient organisations, and was represented at major meetings, including The Cambridge Consensus Conference and the Social Market Foundation meeting.

Much of the work undertaken by the ABPI in the past two years has been aimed at creating a situation more favourable for the pharmaceutical industry through working with stakeholders in the UK and in Europe, via its European counterpart, EFPIA.

Developing National Service Frameworks
National Service Frameworks are government guidelines on care and treatment in a range of major disease areas. There are active industry NSF groups for mental health, older people, renal services, children’s services, diabetes and chronic neurological diseases. They continue to collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders – patient groups, the Department of Health, Strategic Health Authorities, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the National Institute for Mental Health Education and others to assist in the implementation and development of NSFs.

The ABPI and the Department of Health are keen to work together; a good example is the development of a toolkit for Older People’s Champions, which will promote the development of health and social services for older people. Pharmaceutical companies have assisted in making the toolkit widely available and using it in their health development work with clinicians.

Review of Process and Methods of Technology Appraisal
In November, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) approved two documents for use when conducting technology appraisals: a Guide to the Technology Appraisal Process and a Guide to the Methods of Technology Appraisal. These were the result of a period of consultation with the ABPI and other stakeholders earlier in the year. They examined several aspects of the appraisal process: clinical effectiveness, economics, patient and carer evidence, and technology assessment.

Many of the major issues raised by the ABPI in its participation in NICE’s Task Groups and in its response to the consultation were addressed, although some of the detailed comments were not, and will be further followed up with NICE.

The one outstanding area of concern remains the NICE appeals process, which was not subject to the NICE review in 2003. ABPI will continue to raise concerns about the inadequacy of the appeals process and seek improvements to it.

Implementation of NICE Guidance
The ABPI’s effort have been directed at ensuring that implementation of NICE guidance is now the key issue for all involved. At present, implementation is inadequate and patchy, and all stakeholders are committed to addressing the issue. In order to ensure that patients receive the most appropriate medicines throughout the country, the industry will continue to develop tools and techniques to aid implementation and thereby reduce postcode prescribing.

The Association’s key message has been to tackle the lack of uptake of NICE recommendations and the fact that the NHS and patients continue to suffer from postcode prescribing. This argument has been presented frequently to journalists, patient groups and parliamentarians in every discussion about NICE.

Confidentiality of Data Submitted to NICE
The ABPI has been working with NICE to establish how best to ensure that information is readily available to the public while protecting commercially sensitive data. Agreement has therefore been reached with NICE on this issue.