8 June 2006

Professor Lloyd Sansom, Chair of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee today presented on the issue of ‘informing benefits and harms’ and argued for the need to ensure that information relating to decisions by regulatory authorities for registration and subsidy of medicines should be freely available in the public domain.

“All the information that is considered relevant by the user should be available in an easily accessible and in an understandable format. This is a fundamental right which should not be challenged” said Professor Sansom speaking at the 2006 National Medicines Symposium in Canberra today.

Any information about registration should be in the public domain. This information should include information on the clinical trials, evaluation and registration, subsidy, post-marketing surveillance and clinical guidelines.

The information must also be freely accessible to down-stream providers including drug information resources such as the Australian Medicines Handbook and National Prescribing Service, prescribing software and decision support systems, dispensing systems, and developers of clinical guidelines.

Professor Sansom acknowledged that Public Summary Documents have begun to provide greater information however this information isn’t presented in a format that is useful for consumers. He also acknowledged that Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) is a useful tool but is not being used hence there is a need to build on this resource.

“The ultimate aim should be a central repository of all relevant information for all medicines available in Australia. Providing information is a fundamental responsibility of health professionals, media, industry and governments and needs to be presented in a format that is accessible to the end user” Professor Sansom concluded.

The 2006 National Medicines Symposium continues tomorrow.

The National Medicines Symposium is a biennial event hosted by the National Prescribing Service Ltd (NPS) and the Pharmaceutical Health And Rational use of Medicines (PHARM) Committee. This event showcases QUM programs and activities by all QUM and health stakeholders to demonstrate the important role QUM plays in the health of all Australians.

ENDS

NPS is an independent, non-profit organisation for Quality Use of Medicines, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.