4 ms·

I’m guessing the primary use of this data will be for US pharmaceutical companies to find out exactly how much the UK market is worth so they know how much they

by abz10 5y ago

I’m guessing the primary use of this data will be for US pharmaceutical companies to find out exactly how much the UK market is worth so they know how much they can pay lobbyists to put pressure on Uk-US trade negotiations.

Silhouette 5y ago
That seems rather uncharitable. The primary use of the data almost certainly will be what it's claimed to be, helping various legitimate research groups to do their research and helping various legitimate organisations within or supporting the NHS to make sensible plans. The real problem is the inherent risk that other uses will also be made of the data, legally or otherwise. Compliance with the rules for using this sort of data properly and securely has not historically been 100%, and this is Pandora's box. If anything ever seriously breaches, that's game over for the privacy of tens of millions of people, for life. It's also being done very quickly, very quietly, potentially illegally, and on an opt-out basis, which should be reason enough for us to be extremely sceptical about the whole process even without the doctors here raising questions about the medical ethics involved from a professional perspective.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  > The primary use of the data almost certainly will be what it's claimed to be What is that based on? It's plausible, but so are many things that turn out to be false (and which contradict each other). How do you know?
Zenst 5y ago
No as they can already get that from drug sales figures via the distribution suppliers like https://www.alliance-healthcare.co.uk/pharmacy-solutions/wholesale-distributors https://www.alliance-healthcare.co.uk/pharmacy-solutions/who... and few other players in the market who do all the logistics of supplying drugs to hospitals and pharmacies. I worked at Unichem (now alliance-healtcare) upon the system that would produce that data that other companies would buy. No patient specific - just volume of drugs for area's and with that, still happens today.

by abz10 5y ago

Silhouette 5y ago

That seems rather uncharitable. The primary use of the data almost certainly will be what it's claimed to be, helping various legitimate research groups to do their research and helping various legitimate organisations within or supporting the NHS to make sensible plans. The real problem is the inherent risk that other uses will also be made of the data, legally or otherwise. Compliance with the rules for using this sort of data properly and securely has not historically been 100%, and this is Pandora's box. If anything ever seriously breaches, that's game over for the privacy of tens of millions of people, for life. It's also being done very quickly, very quietly, potentially illegally, and on an opt-out basis, which should be reason enough for us to be extremely sceptical about the whole process even without the doctors here raising questions about the medical ethics involved from a professional perspective.

wolverine876 5y ago
> The primary use of the data almost certainly will be what it's claimed to be What is that based on? It's plausible, but so are many things that turn out to be false (and which contradict each other). How do you know?

Zenst 5y ago

No as they can already get that from drug sales figures via the distribution suppliers like https://www.alliance-healthcare.co.uk/pharmacy-solutions/wholesale-distributors https://www.alliance-healthcare.co.uk/pharmacy-solutions/who... and few other players in the market who do all the logistics of supplying drugs to hospitals and pharmacies. I worked at Unichem (now alliance-healtcare) upon the system that would produce that data that other companies would buy. No patient specific - just volume of drugs for area's and with that, still happens today.