French report on improving access to drug information published

The French Minister of Healthcare recently announced the publication of a report  on improving access for patients and healthcare professionals to information on medicinal products. The report includes, in particular, recommendations on how to improve the information content (targets, quality, verification and so on) and evolution (especially during a health crisis), as well as access to such information for patients and professionals. These recommendations relate to:

• Promoting the "culture of medicinal product" by creating a platform to centralise information, reinforcing training among professionals and so on.
• Reinforcing transparency, for example, by increasing access to health databases.
• Improving information throughout the entire product life cycle, for example, by improving the readability of the package leaflet information.
• Anticipating and treating warnings by creating a specific unit in charge of developing mechanisms to better anticipate, monitor and face a crisis.

Following the report, the Minister intends to adapt the current information and communication methods to the new era (mainly, digital) and engage interactions among stakeholders. To do so, new discussions will follow, based on the report, with the aim of reinforcing the:

• Quality of the information, for example, by centralising and updating public databases, improving the public's knowledge of the pharmaceutical and sharing medical dossiers.
• Transparency of the information and preventing conflicts of interests.
• Communication of emergencies.
• Monitoring of the safety of health products.

A prior version of this post was originally published by the same authors in Practical Law – Life Sciences, September 2018 Issue (Thomson Reuters).

This post was originally co-authored by Patricia Carmona Botana.