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Polí­ticas Farmacêuticas: a Serviçodos Interesses da Saúde?

By José Augusto Cabral Barros
2004

ABSTRACT


This text stems from a research project aimed at evaluating actual drug
policies particularly those related to the harmonization of regulatory processes
within the European Union and at the international level as well.
Firstly the role of drugs is evaluated in regards to pharmaceutical industry
and economic interests involved in emphasizing the “medicalization” phenomenon
viewed as a consequence of drug manufacturers promotional strategies directed
to consumers and physicians.
The second chapter is dedicated to describing harmonization of regulation
of drugs worldwide.
Moreover, the globalisation and neoliberal economic reforms and
their impact to the access to pharmaceuticals are briefly analysed, as well as
different initiatives to promote rational use and access to essential medicaments.
Finally some conclusions emerge in the light of the pharmaceutical
sector situation; an analysis is put forth, and proposals are presented in order to
improve drug usage in the interest of public health.

 

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Cases of wilful misrepresentation are a rarity in medical advertising. For every advertisement in which nonexistent doctors are called on to testify or deliberately irrelevant references are bunched up in [fine print], you will find a hundred or more whose greatest offenses are unquestioning enthusiasm and the skill to communicate it.

The best defence the physician can muster against this kind of advertising is a healthy skepticism and a willingness, not always apparent in the past, to do his homework. He must cultivate a flair for spotting the logical loophole, the invalid clinical trial, the unreliable or meaningless testimonial, the unneeded improvement and the unlikely claim. Above all, he must develop greater resistance to the lure of the fashionable and the new.
- Pierre R. Garai (advertising executive) 1963