Parliament rejects medicines advertising 

• Support for a central authorisation procedure, via the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products, for all new medicines;
• Rejection of the initial Commission proposal for a pilot project to allow information to be provided on new drugs to treat diseases such as AIDS, asthma and diabetes;
• Support for the the EP Environment Committee's 8+2 years data protection proposal, meaning that generic medicinal products would be eligible to apply for authorisation 8 years after the reference medicinal product is approved, while the production and marketing of the generic medicinal product authorised on this basis would have to wait an additional two years.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industrysaid that the current ban on drugs advertising was "unfair" and "not in patients' interest".

Consilient Health, a generic drug firm, referred to the Parliament's vote on regulatory data protection as a "fair compromise".

BEUC, the European Consumers' Organisationwelcomed the Parliament's decision to "favour informed choice for patients instead of just more brand awareness". BEUC, in their press release thanked the Parliament for placing "the interests of patients before those of the pharmaceutical industry".