E-drug: Meeting for those with GBP 1173.83 to spare (cont'd)
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On Gaut Gadeholt's message about SMI Pharmaceutical
Conferences:
Partnerships: There is a problem here, but I think it is possible to
overestimate it. The idea that pharmaceutical companies are so
influencing patient groups that they cannot operate independently is
not something I agree with. Here in the UK, the patient groups
themselves are worried by the links, sufficient for an umbrella group,
the Long Term Medical Conditions Alliance, to have drawn up
guidelines on working with industry for its members. These include
transparency and boundaries, which are vital. The guidelines stress
that both sides have something to learn. It would be a great shame if
anybody stopped listening to patient groups (now that they have
come of age) because they are listening and talking to industry. They
are still capable of independent thought!
dd
David Dickinson MA FRSA
Principal, *Consumation*
***Consumer information design***
53 Hosack Road, London SW17 7QW
fax 0181 355 7811, tel 0181 673 4403
mobile 0966 271 832
david.dickinson@consumation.com
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