If you are interested in the EU Directive on Information to Patients, known colloquially in La Grande Place as 2001/83/EC, then this article from InPharm which went online this afternoon will get you up to speed with the latest changes made by the European Commission.

The most significant of the three recent changes seems to be that health professionals who present information on drugs on behalf of pharma companies should declare what they have been paid and by whom.

I have not been following the Directive that closely I am afraid – I think the EU legislative process has been deliberately designed on the basis that people will lose the will after a certain length of time.  However, the underlying debate as it has travelled through its various stages has been how to ensure the EU does not go the ‘direct-to-consumer’ route as seen in the US.