Dr Håkan Mandahl
Swedish Industry Association, Sweden

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) plans to introduce a quality symbol along with the criteria for assessing the DRA web sites. This symbol will be based on international, European and national codes of conduct and is expected to be in the form of a quality seal that can be displayed on all industry sites.

As mentioned, there are at least 40,000 web sites providing health information. The problem for a consumer is to find the right place for good-quality, correct, and up-to-date information. A seal could provide a type of guarantee to the public that a certain site contains information of high quality. It is proposed that the seal be administered by the IFPMA secretariat in Geneva. Complaints will be received by the IFPMA and then referred to the concerned national industry association and their ethical board, which will deal with the complaint and take the necessary actions. In Sweden, for example, companies have to pay about US $6000 each time they break the rules and ‘the verdict’ is published in all pharmaceutical and medical papers.

IFPMA view the seal as an addition to what is already in place. It is just one more system to control pharmaceutical information. It can operate globally and nationally, which is often a problem for most other codes applicable on a regional or national basis only. The IFPMA seal is expected to work alongside the others. It should be simple to operate and simple to understand. Of course a lot of promotion is needed until the public gains understanding of and respect for the symbol.

Companies using the seal will have to demonstrate that they fulfil all criteria before they may use it. After being accepted for use of the seal, the idea is that either the public or the health profession or competitors could report the companies to the IFPMA if the information on their Internet site is not correct. In every company there should be at least one person responsible for any information released, which is more or less the situation today.