E-drug: the Global Village and essential drugs
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Dear E-druggers,
I am preparing an article/presentation on the impact (positive and
negative) of the "Global Village" on essential drugs.
I would appreciate comments/criticism on my line of thinking:
1. drugs can be defined as chemical products plus information.
2. Chemical products are reasonably controlled through Drug
Regulatory Authorities, but information less so. True, DRAs decide on
what is allowed in the package insert, but once drugs are registered,
doctors and consumers often find other (useful and less useful) uses
for that drug. And DRAs often do not control what information (or
promotion) is targetting health workers or consumers.
3. Information on how to use drugs rationally is crucial. Ideally we
would only use evidence-based information and guidelines based on
national consensus and good science.
4. But the new technologies (Internet, CD-ROMs, junk-email,
electronic conferences) open all kinds of new ways how information
can reach prescribers and consumers. Some of that is helpful (like
textbooks/Cochrane data on CD-ROM, electronic conferences like
E-drug; I am biased!) but other might be less helpful (uncontrolled
information in Internet, even sale of non-registered products through
Internet). There are also other new technologies (like
computer-assisted prescribing, based on AI systems or formularies) of
which I do not yet know the efficacy. And then there are privacy
related questions in the increasing data-processing of prescription
data: e.g., should the drug company be allowed to know what a doctor
is prescribing.
Your comments are welcome at WilbertBannenberg@compuserve.com
or here at E-drug (send them to Syed at srahmad@essential.org for
the time being)
kind regards
Wilbert Bannenberg
(in my personal capacity)
Wilbert Bannenberg, SADAP Coordinator
Hallmark 938, P/Bag X 828, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Tel work +27-12-3120374/5 Fax +27-12-3236745 Cellphone +27-82-5756249
Email bannew@hltrsa.pwv.gov.za (work)
Email WilbertBannenberg@compuserve.com (private)
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