Honours list and Red cards

For each new drug or new indication examined in the New Products column, Prescrire's editorial staff and documentation team accumulate large amounts of international documentation from all available sources (printed and electronic).

Health professionals who read Prescrire, and their patients, must have access to evaluation data on new drugs, as it is they who will be invited to prescribe, dispense and use the products.

Published data can usually be accessed by a classical literature search. Unpublished data for the purposes of marketing authorisation are held both by regulatory agencies and by drug companies. We therefore seek further information from both these sources.

Not all manufacturers have the same sense of responsibility towards the end-users of their products.

The Information Awards are intended to bring companies' behaviour under the spotlight. They reward the openness of some companies and invite the remainder to improve. They are also designed to underline the fact that information is a right, not a privilege.

©La revue Prescrire 23 January 2003