Lilly's CEO Calls for Reform of Nation's Drug Saf...( FDA health care industry and the me...),Health

FDA, health care industry, and the medical community collaboration would

share data via a national health IT system

CLEVELAND, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sidney Taurel, chairman and chief executive officer, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), in a speech today at the Cleveland Clinic, called on the health care industry, medical community and U.S. government to actively collaborate on a health information technology system that would provide more rapid and useful insights on the effectiveness of medicines while improving drug safety.

His proposal, along with other benefits that would flow from a true healthcare "Information Revolution," was outlined for an audience of some of the nation's medical thought-leaders attending Cleveland Clinic's 2007 Medical Innovations Summit. Taurel was the keynote speaker.

"The use of prescription medicines always will be a matter of balancing benefits and risks," Taurel said. "Fortunately, systems are now within our grasp to more quickly identify both the true benefits and the full extent of risks associated with medicines in widespread use."

Although traditional drug trials will continue to test new hypotheses about medicines after they have reached the market, Taurel outlined how a well-functioning health IT system could serve not only to frame hypothesis for so-called "Phase IV" clinical research, but also become the practical equivalent of massive, real-world trials. Such a system would collect detailed data from day-to-day medical practices and feed insights quickly, seamlessly and at a lower cost to doctors, regulators, and drug manufacturers. The result would be a more accurate picture of a drug's safety and efficacy than exists today
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