Author: Lynne Taylor

US patients who receive free drug samples have significantly higher out-of-pocket prescription costs than those who do not, new research has found.

With Malaysia and Bangladesh both forecasting sharp increases in their pharmaceutical exports, business groups are calling for the establishment of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations.

In 2007, 127 complaints were made about the marketing and promotional practices of pharmaceutical companies in the UK, a slight drop on 2006’s total of 134, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) has reported.

New evidence of a steep decline in the pharmaceutical industry’s confidence in the UK as a place to do business is “very worrying,” the Confederation of British Industry has warned the government.

The time has come to measure patient outcomes achieved by the UK National Health Service as a matter of routine practice nationwide, and it should be possible to do this for the majority of NHS activity within five years, the industry-backed Office of Health Economics Commission on NHS Outcomes, Performance and Productivity has reported.