Conference report

DIA Asia

IFAPP was invited by the organizers of the DIA Asiaconference held in Tokyo in September 2002 to contribute aspeaker on education in pharmaceutical medicine in Europe.Physicians within the pharmaceutical industry in Asia areworking hard to raise the awareness of their discipline.Speakers from Japan and Korea were also sharing theirexperiences, although, unfortunately, a speaker from Chinawas unable to attend at the last moment.

Attending on behalf of IFAPP, I gave a brief overview ofthe history and objectives of the Federation and the status ofspecialist recognition in the various member countries.Using the UK as a specific example, I shared the programmefor specialist training and certification. I had the impressionthat some of the audience was surprised by the advancesmade in Europe in this field, and I hope therefore that theaims of the organizers were met – at least in part.

The title of the overall meeting was PharmaceuticalEvolution in Asia and the topics covered included clinical

trials, regulatory issues, and marketing. The speakers werevery experienced in their fields and gave well-prepared andthoughtful presentations, with lively question and answersessions following each section.

I should like to express my thanks to Dr AkiyoshiUchiyama for his kind invitation to speak and his help inmaking the arrangements.

My thanks too go to Dr Takashi Yohkaichiya, presidentof the Japanese Association of Pharmaceutical Medicine(JAPhMed). He invited me on behalf of JAPhMed toaddress the Association at one of its regular meetings, andasked me to help with their understanding of the EMEA andhow products are licensed in Europe. This I tried to do, andbrought them warm greetings from their colleagues in theBritish Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians. I spent amost enjoyable evening meeting members of the JapaneseAssociation and sharing experiences.

Jane BarrettUK Delegate to IFAPP

IFAPP NEWS244

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL MEDICINE 2002 G Vol 16, No. 6