DG Enterprise and Industry wishes to consult stakeholders on legislative proposals to strengthen and rationalise the EU system of pharmacovigilance. The Commission services conducted a previous consultation, between 16 March 2006 and 12 May 2006, which sought stakeholders' views on the strengths and weaknesses of the current EU system of pharmacovigilance and how the system could be strengthened.

Oil-for-food: UK probe to cover more companies
A UK government probe into whether GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly & Co bribed the Saddam Hussein administration in Iraq may expand to other...

British ask Lilly for data on Iraq sales
British fraud investigators are questioning Eli Lilly and Co. and at least two other drug makers about possible kickbacks they paid to trade...

UK pulls Glaxo into Iraq fraud probe
Serious Fraud Office has requested documents from GlaxoSmithKline as part of an investigation into kickbacks or bribes that may have...

Biomedical research happens in networks of researchers. Social networking web sites like FaceBook, LinkedIn and Xing use personal networks to establish contacts. On these sites, however, connections must be defined by the users themselves. For the first time, GoPubMed now completely and automatically extracts collaboration networks from millions of biomedical science publications.

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has concluded that updated warnings to doctors and patients are needed to increase awareness of cases of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts reported in patients using Champix (varenicline), a medicine indicated for smoking cessation in adults.

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has recommended the withdrawal of the marketing authorisations for all lumiracoxib-containing medicines, because of the risk of serious side effects affecting the liver. Lumiracoxib is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that belongs to the group 'COX-2 inhibitors'. It is used for symptomatic relief in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the hip and knee.

European consumers have been a longneglected piece of the strategic puzzle for most marketers at health and pharmaceutical companies. Yet, signs increasingly point to the degree to which European consumers are, in fact, researching health information and treatment options, and ultimately taking action as a result of those information searches - as outlined in the trend above.

The Internet's role is increasing in the patient-physician relationship and having an impact on which treatment decisions are being implemented. Still, the physician clearly remains the ultimate voice on this front. Be they the "cyberchondriacs" or the "cyber savvy," consumers in Europe are turning to the Internet for self-education, symptom checking, prescription medication comparisons, and disease education.