Marina Yannakoudakis, MEP for London and Conservative Health Spokesman in the European Parliament, on Tuesday welcomed European Commission proposals for clearer rules on information regarding prescription medicines.

The Commission on Tuesday produced revised proposals based on the recommendations of the European Parliament, including suggestions from Mrs. Yannakoudakis. The new proposals spell out the information that industry can supply to the public on prescription-only medicines.

 Mrs. Yannakoudakis said: “Patients deserve the right to access information about the medicines they are taking. I welcome the Commission’s proposals which call for unbiased, factually correct and, most of all, understandable information about prescription medicines to be provided to patients.

 “Similarly, pharmaceutical companies will not be able to bombard the consumer with unwanted promotional information in newspapers and magazines.

 “These new rules on key information as well as guidelines for additional, voluntary information will give patients a better understanding of the medicines they are taking, thereby increasing their rights as patients while reinforcing consumer safety.
“Finally the information is to be approved by the competent Member State authorities rather than by the Brussels bureaucracy, making the system altogether more accountable and more adaptable to the needs of patients across the 27 countries of the European Union.”