Professor Colum Dunne:

I will aim for that. I will answer a number of the questions simultaneously, particularly those of Senator Crown and Deputy Healy. It reflects the complexity of the interactions between patients, physicians and pharmacists. It is especially interesting that while the pharmacist probably has the greatest expertise in and knowledge of the drug development process and its regulation, the patient probably has greater trust and credence in the physician. Coming to Deputy Healy's point, that means the personal attitudes of physicians play a role. Some physicians will remember things like the indicative drug budgeting scheme from 1993, which, like a similar scheme in the UK, failed to bring about the savings that were expected, and they may have a certain antipathy to this kind of activity. That being said, the greatest swing in attitudes that has occurred has been in favour of generics. All the health care providers are on the same page in terms of being able to give the best value to their patients in a safe way.

My last point concerns a question that was put to the GPs and pharmacists when we looked at their perception of safety. While the pharmacists would be aware that the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, plays a very significant role in ensuring that products available on the Irish market are safe and of high quality, the physicians may not recognise that.