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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
FromDTCA‐PDto patient information to health information: the complex politics and semantics ofEUhealth policy
Contributor:
Brooks, Eleanor;
Geyer, Robert
imprint:
Wiley, 2012
Published in:Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1111/j.1365-2753.2012.01883.x
ISSN:
1356-1294;
1365-2753
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Rationale, aims and objectives</jats:title><jats:p>Between 2001 and 2011 the pharmaceutical industry, supported by<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DG E</jats:styled-content>nterprise, was engaged in an ongoing campaign to repeal/amend the<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>uropean<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">U</jats:styled-content>nion (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">EU</jats:styled-content>) ban on direct‐to‐consumer advertising of prescription drugs (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DTCA</jats:styled-content>‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PD</jats:styled-content>). As it became increasingly clear that the ban would not be repealed,<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DTCA</jats:styled-content>‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PD</jats:styled-content>supporters tried to shift the debate away from advertising and towards the provision of ‘patient information’ and the rights of patients to access such information. Meanwhile, a variety of national and European health organizations, supported by<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DG SANCO</jats:styled-content>, sought to maintain the ban and oppose the industry‐supported ‘patient information’ campaign. Instead, they promoted a concept of ‘health information’ that included all aspects of citizens' health, not just pharmaceuticals. This article aims to analyse the transition from<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DTCA</jats:styled-content>‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PD</jats:styled-content>to patient information to health information and examine its implications for<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">EU</jats:styled-content>health policy as a complex policy space.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>The article examines the emergence and development of<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">EU</jats:styled-content>health policy and the evolution of the<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DTCA</jats:styled-content>‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PD</jats:styled-content>debate through the lens of complexity theory. It analyses the nature of the semantic, political and policy transition and asks why it occurred, what it tells us about<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">EU</jats:styled-content>health policy and future<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">EU</jats:styled-content>health legislation and how it may be understood from a complexity perspective.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results and conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>The article concludes that the complexity framework is ideally suited for the field of public health and, in particular, the<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DTCA</jats:styled-content>‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PD</jats:styled-content>debate. Having successfully shifted the policy‐focus of the debate to patients’ rights and health information, opponents of the legislation are likely to face their next battle in the realm of cyberspace, where regulatory issues change the nature of advertising.</jats:p></jats:sec>