[Drug information must be critically scrutinized. Industry's only wish: prescription from the physician to the patient].
The purpose of drug information from the pharmaceutical industry is to increase sales. The message is often simplified, short, with emphasis on Unique Selling Points (USP). Information is often given in a pleasant environment, food is served, gifts handed out. The same information is repeated in advertising campaigns. However, the information is often incomplete and the level of evidence not discussed. The purpose of producer independent information is to give scientific facts according to the principles practiced by evidence-based medicine. This information focuses on the level of evidence of published papers but is often more lengthy, may be difficult to understand and may even be regarded as boring. There are, however, useful principles to apply when analysing the information given by the pharmaceutical industry on specific drugs. There are also several sources of independent drug information to turn to.
Liedholm
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Universitetssjukhuset MAS, Malmö. hans.liedholm@smi.mas.lu.se
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D000329:Advertising; D004346:Drug Information Services; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome