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Friday, 29 January 2010 12:33 GMT
French journal Prescrire withholds top award in 2009
PARIS, Jan 29 (APM) - French journal Prescrire withheld its highest award, the "pilule d'or", in 2009 and has left the honour roll empty in its list of drugs that represented important progress last year.
In the magazine's prize list presented on Thursday, just two drugs are considered to provide "modest" improvement.
They are MSD-Chibret's Cancidas in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis in children refractory or intolerant of the various injectable forms of amphotericin B and/or itraconazole, and Celgene's Thalidomide in the first line treatment of multiple myeloma in some patients over the age of 65, in combination with melphalan and prednisone.
Prescrire has not awarded any drug packaging prize for 2009.
Based on a football referee's card system to warn and punish players, the magazine has given "packaging red cards" to Pfizer's Zarontin (ethosuximide), Amgen's Nplate (romiplostim) and Eisai's Prialt (ziconotide).
The magazine has given "packaging yellow cards" to Servier's Coversyl, Preterax and Bipreterax tablets, Procter & Gamble's Vicks expectorant for adults, Bioprojet's Tiorfanor tablets and Cristers' betaine citrate granules.
For the quality of the information provided to the magazine, Janssen-Cilag and Sanofi Pasteur MSD come first. After them come Bouchara-Recordati, EG Labo, GlaxoSmithKline, Leo, Mundipharma and Nycomed.
Singled out for the low quality of the information on their drugs provided to Prescrire are Amgen, Bayer Schering, Lilly, Menarini, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Servier and Teva Pharma.
In its release, the magazine said that 2009 was "worryingly thin". Among the 104 new drugs or indications Prescrire analysed in 2009, it said that only three represent a degree of therapeutic progress and the magazine has awarded them faint praise with the words "contributes something", 14 have been marked "possibly useful", while 62 "contribute nothing new".
In six cases the magazine said the editorial board could not make a pronouncement because there was not enough information; for 19 the magazine believes the products offer disproportionate risk to patients.
In an editorial the magazine said the therapeutic innovation system remains blocked or "clogged". It says that in 2009 the lack of new products contributing therapeutic progress, even on a modest level, is to be checked off against new products that expose patients to unjustified risk and it says there have been some twenty such products per year for the last five years.
The magazine emphasises insufficiencies both in the marketing approval procedures and at the pharmacovigilance level once products are on the market, saying they are "flagrant". It says that, overall, pharma companies and the authorities have not learnt lessons from the past, despite the DES, Vioxx and Acomplia affairs.
The magazine said: "Drugs are dangerous", even though they can save lives. Their side effects kill, injure and disable, including from one generation to the next. It makes a plea for information to patients and practitioners, stressing that it is in the interest of pharma companies to see that the appropriate use of drugs becomes the rule, in an environment based on real transparency.
Concerning its complaints over packaging, in a release, the magazine said "lack of quality was once again predominant in 2009". It complains of labelling that is ambiguous or not sufficiently informative.
On the positive side, the magazine said more international non proprietary names now feature on the boxes and more boxes have information in Braille, and some dangerous injectable drugs now have labelling that is easier to read.
fb/aki/nh/hlc
[17943] 29/01/2010 12:33 GMT - INDUSTRY
In the magazine's prize list presented on Thursday, just two drugs are considered to provide "modest" improvement.
They are MSD-Chibret's Cancidas in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis in children refractory or intolerant of the various injectable forms of amphotericin B and/or itraconazole, and Celgene's Thalidomide in the first line treatment of multiple myeloma in some patients over the age of 65, in combination with melphalan and prednisone.
Prescrire has not awarded any drug packaging prize for 2009.
Based on a football referee's card system to warn and punish players, the magazine has given "packaging red cards" to Pfizer's Zarontin (ethosuximide), Amgen's Nplate (romiplostim) and Eisai's Prialt (ziconotide).
The magazine has given "packaging yellow cards" to Servier's Coversyl, Preterax and Bipreterax tablets, Procter & Gamble's Vicks expectorant for adults, Bioprojet's Tiorfanor tablets and Cristers' betaine citrate granules.
For the quality of the information provided to the magazine, Janssen-Cilag and Sanofi Pasteur MSD come first. After them come Bouchara-Recordati, EG Labo, GlaxoSmithKline, Leo, Mundipharma and Nycomed.
Singled out for the low quality of the information on their drugs provided to Prescrire are Amgen, Bayer Schering, Lilly, Menarini, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Servier and Teva Pharma.
In its release, the magazine said that 2009 was "worryingly thin". Among the 104 new drugs or indications Prescrire analysed in 2009, it said that only three represent a degree of therapeutic progress and the magazine has awarded them faint praise with the words "contributes something", 14 have been marked "possibly useful", while 62 "contribute nothing new".
In six cases the magazine said the editorial board could not make a pronouncement because there was not enough information; for 19 the magazine believes the products offer disproportionate risk to patients.
In an editorial the magazine said the therapeutic innovation system remains blocked or "clogged". It says that in 2009 the lack of new products contributing therapeutic progress, even on a modest level, is to be checked off against new products that expose patients to unjustified risk and it says there have been some twenty such products per year for the last five years.
The magazine emphasises insufficiencies both in the marketing approval procedures and at the pharmacovigilance level once products are on the market, saying they are "flagrant". It says that, overall, pharma companies and the authorities have not learnt lessons from the past, despite the DES, Vioxx and Acomplia affairs.
The magazine said: "Drugs are dangerous", even though they can save lives. Their side effects kill, injure and disable, including from one generation to the next. It makes a plea for information to patients and practitioners, stressing that it is in the interest of pharma companies to see that the appropriate use of drugs becomes the rule, in an environment based on real transparency.
Concerning its complaints over packaging, in a release, the magazine said "lack of quality was once again predominant in 2009". It complains of labelling that is ambiguous or not sufficiently informative.
On the positive side, the magazine said more international non proprietary names now feature on the boxes and more boxes have information in Braille, and some dangerous injectable drugs now have labelling that is easier to read.
fb/aki/nh/hlc
[17943] 29/01/2010 12:33 GMT - INDUSTRY
