Findings from a questionnaire survey on new guidelines for preparing drug guide for patients and a perspective from a pharmaceutical company as the information provider

Abstract

Draft versions of two products of based on a “Drug Guide for Patients” have been prepared the guidelines proposed in “Research on risk communication between patients and healthcare professionals regarding information on safety measures for drugs, etc.” by Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants. We conducted a questionnaire survey on the draft to identify issues regarding the contents and their preparation from the viewpoint of pharmaceutical companies as authors. The questionnaire results indicated that, the segments of the contents of the “Drug Guide for Patients” based on the new guidelines are generally acceptable. In this paper, the author offers proposals to address issues regarding the preparation of easy-to-read contents for patients and strategies to promote the overall understanding recognition of Drug Guide for Patients. Drug Guide for Patients are expected to be utilized as materials providing information to be used for routine risk minimization activities of the Risk Management Plan in the future.