The Introduction, index and abbreviations gives you background information on how Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin and the National Prescribing Centre developed their idea for the publication, along with a full index and list of abbreviations used.
The second book, How medicines get to market, addresses how medicines are defined and developed. It goes on to describe the licensing system and covers the naming of medicines. Finally, the booklet considers how medicines reach the public and how they are withdrawn.
Thirdly, Ensuring standards looks at how the safety, quality and efficacy of medicines are determined and maintained, how official information about medicines is provided and how promotional material is controlled.
In Medicines cost money, issues surrounding the costs of medicines are considered. There is a description of how much is spent on medicines, how the prices of medicines are determined, how the amount to be spent on medicines is decided and how the medicines budget is distributed within the NHS.
The next book, Learning about medicines, deals with the need for healthcare professionals to keep up to date with developments in medicines. It also describes sources of information on medicine.
The sixth book, The pharmaceutical industry, describes how the pharmaceutical industry functions as a business, how companies develop and supply medicines and how medicines are marketed.
Finally, Patients' rights, patient power deals with patients' right to treatment, consent to treatment, information exchange between patients and healthcare professionals, how patients influence the NHS and the issue of self-treatment.
