Is it time to combine risk communication and transparency?

 

Chaired by: Professor Ragnar Lofstedt, King's Centre for Risk management, Department of Geography

 

For this very special event the following panellists have agreed to take part:

 

Dr. Frederic Bouder, Assistant professor, Maastricht University 

 

What is the best way to communicate benefits and risk to patients in the 7/24 media and internet era? For example what should be the role of the internet to communicate crucial information about drug adverse reactions or pharmacovigilance? The 2010 Regulation and Directive on pharmacovigilance have made transparency a central element by means of web portals and public hearings. The European Medicine Agency has also released its new policy on the handling of conflicts of interests of Scientific Committees which may further increase calls for transparency. Will these efforts change the nature of risk communication in the medical field? Do these recent developments complement, facilitate, or complicate the Agency's sensitive task of engaging in a two-way dialogue with patients and society on the benefits and risks of pharmaceuticals? Last spring the EMA published a report by Frederic Bouder from King's College London and Maastricht University, with four key actions to improve the agency's risk communication:

 

- creating a risk communication advisory board;

- taking a strategic view on transparency;

- involving patients in communication activities on a routine basis;

- reviewing the format and timing of its communication vehicles.

 

Do recent transparency moves make the recommendations obsolete? Or do they create the challenge of better integrating risk communication and transparency efforts? Six months after the publication of the report and few weeks after the endorsement of the Agency's roadmap to 2015, it is time to examine the best way forward to combine the agency's commitment towards more transparency and a more effective communication.

 

Edmund J Safra Lecture Theatre, King’s building, Strand, London WC2R 2LS