Honours list and Noteworthy

In the current context dominated by market forces and shareholder interests Prescrire's annual Drugs Awards offer a rare opportunity to confront drug manufacturers with the quality of the service they offer to their customers-patients and health professionals.

Throughout the year, in each issue of la revue Prescrire, the editorial staff appraises all new drugs placed on the French market (and new indications of existing drugs). The aim is to enable readers to distinguish real therapeutic advance from simple commercial novelty, and to placenew drugs correctly within the existing therapeutic arsenal.

The editorial staff works in total freedom and independence: Prescrire is financed solely by its readers' subscriptions; it carries no advertising whatsoever, and receives no government subsidies.

Prescrire's Drugs Awards are not based on a simple hierarchical classification. On the contrary, the awards are granted only after a very strict analysis. This year, as on several previous occasions, none of the products we examined in 2002 deserved the highest award (the Golden Pill).

Therapeutic advances can consist of increased efficacy based on hard clinical endpoints;
or a lower incidence or lesser severity of adverse effects, for a given degree of efficacy;
or simpler, less risky or less invasive administration of a useful but heavy treatment.

Price is the last factor taken into account. Indeed, pricing is highly variable in different settings (hospital or out patient), and depends on the goodwill (or otherwise) of the different parties involved, most notably the manufacturers.

©La revue Prescrire 23 January 2003