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Government to focus on pharmaceutical field

TheCopenhagenPost
August 11th, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

The medicinal authority Lægemiddelstyrelsen will be re-established

In an effort to benefit the medicinal industry, the Danish government has decided to increase its focus on the pharmaceutical field and will re-establish the medicinal authority, Lægemiddelstyrelsen.

Since 2012 Lægemiddelstyrelsen had been part of the general health authority, Sundhedsstyrelsen, but the government now wants to make the departments that approve clinical medicinal testing and the marketing of new medicine in Denmark independent.

“We have listened to the pharmaceutical industry, which contributes considerably to Danish exports, and have decided that Lægemiddelstyrelsen should be re-established as an independent authority,” said the health minister, Sophie Løhde.

“It’s an authority that can play a more effective role in the European co-operation in the pharmaceutical arena and help attract and retain capable employees who can check the pharma companies and provide them with competent expertise. Because that is what’s needed to keep Denmark at the forefront of the pharmaceutical industry in the future.”

READ MORE: New law shuts down Denmark’s 24-hour pharmacies

Processing times down
The pharmaceutical industry contributes significantly to the Danish economy. For instance, Danish pharmaceutical companies sold for 6.79 billion kroner in the US alone during this year’s first quarter, which is almost half of the total exports to the US.

Løhde also expects the new Lægemiddelstyrelse will have an impact on the case processing times regarding the approval of medicine.

The new Lægemiddelstyrelse is expected to become a reality at the end of 2015.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”