§ Linda PerhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on EU proposals to relax the rules on advertising prescription drugs and the possible impact on the NHS. [3722]
§ Yvette CooperThe European Union proposals on advertising of prescription-only medicines are part of a much wider European Commission review of the European legislation governing medicines. They have yet to be formally adopted by the Commission. As currently drafted, the proposals do not lift the existing prohibition on advertising prescription-only medicines directly to the public, but are concerned with the provision of information in certain therapeutic areas on request by patients, patient groups or health professionals.
We will examine the Commission's proposals in detail once they have been adopted. The United Kingdom will discuss these proposals with the Commission and other member states in a working group of the Council of Ministers, taking into account what impact, positive or negative, they have on the national health service and more widely. Our priority will be to ensure that any amendments agreed to the existing legislation are fully justified in the interests of public health, and are compatible with meeting patients' needs for full and comprehensible information about their medicines.