The European Parliament voted on the proposals in October last year, calling for obligatory industry information on medicinal products and for no comparative details available on packs, as this could be seen as promotional.
MEPs also requested links between the information given in packs and internet databases, allowing patients to obtain further information relating to the testing of their medicines.
Health Commissioner John Dalli last year welcomed the Parliament's suggestions, but rejected calls to connect patient information with online data, saying such a move could ostracise patients who do not have access to the internet.
Spelling out the risks
However, at a lunch debate in the Parliament this week, health sector delegates urged the Commission to take the proposals a step further.
The meeting was called to discuss methods of helping patients 'adhere' to therapies – to take the medicines prescribed to them properly – and delegates called for patient information to include advice on what the effects of non-adherence would be, and repeated calls for links between packs and online information.
The meeting heard estimations that 20% to 30% of European patients do not follow medication regimens, and 30% to 40% fail to abide by regimens designed to prevent health problems.
Almost 200,000 deaths occur in the EU each year due to mis-dosing and non-adherence to prescribed medication, which is estimated to cost the European Union €1.25 billion annually, delegates were told.
Older people more likely to 'forget' to take medicine
Failure to take medicine affects some illnesses more than others, such as cardiovascular disease, for which up to 50% of hospital admissions may be due to poor adherence. Older people often take multiple medications and are at greater risk of adverse drug reactions through failure to understand their medicine regimens.
Professor Przemyslaw Kardas, the head of family medicine at the University of Lodz, told the meeting: "I would like to see the patient information contain information enabling patients to adhere and telling them what to do if they failed to carry on taking the medicine properly. At the moment this kind of information is only provided for contraceptives, but it is needed for a whole range of other disorders such as hypertension."
Richard Bergström, the director-general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), said that the European Parliament's proposals for patient information were "a good starting point" for the Commission to use, but he added: "We need to take a look at how we provide patient information with packaging. It could be something that is uploaded online."
Jeremy Fleming
