Dispute over European medical TV-channel

Four of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies are considering launching an interactive TV channel in Europe. The prospect has caused outrage among some consumer groups, because advertising prescription drugs directly to patients in the European Union is illegal. They warn that the pharmaceutical giants will find it impossible to give unbiased advice about their own products. But the drug companies involved - Pfizer, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble - insist they are only interested in giving reliable high quality health information which would help patients when they were discussing their treatments with doctors. They have even made a ten-minute DVD of what the new interactive TV channel might look like - although a spokesman for one of the firms concerned said the plan was at a very early stage. ‘The European Patient Information Channel is simply a name given to an interactive information tool,’ he says. ‘It does not exist, nor is it in development. The purpose of creating this model was to provide an example of how quality information might be provided to Europeans in the future. The drug companies also insist they have no wish to challenge the current ban on advertising prescription drugs directly to patients in Europe. Those regulations are currently being reviewed by the European Commission. (BBC News)

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