The politics of selling drugs

Dr Graham Sharpe's opinion is, well, sharp. A small but loud sector of the pro-vitamin lobby has hijacked a bill which would have benefited patients with better, faster access to new medicines.

They did so "by telling lies", says the president of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists. The lobbyists shouted the loudest, the media largely focused on them, missing the real point, and opposition politicians gave in to point scoring.

Sharpe and others believe what is left is a big mess. He is talking about the now postponed Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill, legislation which would have allowed a joint Australian and New Zealand therapeutic products agency to go ahead.

The authority would have regulated prescription medicines for both countries and, for the first time in this country, regulated the complementary health industry.

And, boy, does the complementary health industry need to be regulated, says Sharpe.

Some in the pro-vitamin lobby went ballistic about the bill. They went on marches, chanted and spent big money on an advertising campaign which suggested natural health businesses would go bust and products would disappear. New Zealand, they said, would be dictated to by Australian bureaucrats.

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What the public heard less about was another reason why a transtasman arrangement is so important. This has to do with New Zealand's small population size - and drug companies.

The legislation was about a lot more than vitamins, says Sharpe. Without a joint agency it will be more difficult for a country of New Zealand's size to access new and improved drugs, some vital to anaesthetists and other doctors trying to save lives.

Anything from break-through cancer drugs to improved arthritis medication may be harder to get.

Sharpe is not alone in his dismay. The New Zealand Medical Association, which represents doctors and patients, has condemned the failure of the legislation. The drug companies are not happy - and neither are people from within the natural health industry who supported the regulation of their industry.

Michelle Beckett from Natural Products New Zealand, for example, took on the protesters, going to the Advertising Standards Authority with a list of complaints about misleading, deceptive and scaremongering advertisements.

Two days ago, she won on all counts. Beckett believes many of the protesters have vested interests in natural health products and were simply against any regulation.

But regulation would ensure natural products of the highest quality with ingredients true to their label, she says. Any company that had a problem with that should not be in business.

source;www.nzherald.co.nz