course to register for the examination, provided the
candidate has adequate experience in pharmaceu-
tical medicine.
Physicians passing the examinations are
awarded the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine,
which is recognized by the Belgian College of
Pharmaceutical medicine, established in 2000 by
two Belgian Royal Academies of Medicine.
Holders are added to a specialist register held by
the Belgian College of Pharmaceutical Medicine.
The diploma is recognised by the Faculty of
Pharmaceutical Medicine (London) as being
equivalent to that of the United Kingdom.
Ireland
The Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians in
Ireland (APPI) is the leading force in establishing
Higher Medical Training in Ireland. APPI gained
acceptance for pharmaceutical medicine as a spe-
ciality from the Irish Committee for Higher Med-
ical Training (ICHMT) of the Royal College of
Physicians of Ireland. This was accepted by the
Irish Medical Council in 2004, and the medial
speciality was approved by the Ministry of Health
in 2005. APPI is working with other new special-
ities on the practicalities of establishing the new
speciality, and it has constructed the curriculum
and will work through the ICHMTon the necessary
training requirements for specialist accreditation
for pharmaceutical physicians.
France
The EUDIPHARM programme was established in
1999 based on the University of Lyon with funding
fromtheEuropean Union. Theprogrammeinvolves
theparticipationof14universitiesin11countries of
the EU. There is an international teaching faculty
involving many from the United Kingdom, Swe-
den, Germany and Italy. The course is at variance
with other courses in pharmaceutical medicine in
that during the first year, all students attend three
residential seminars of 3-week duration, represent-
ing a basic training module with 18 sub-modules.
In the second year, students elect to specialize
in one of the series of subspeciality options,
namely drug development, regulatory affairs,
post-marketing monitoring, medical marketing,
attending three to four modules, each of 2-week
duration. In the first year, all courses are at the
University of Lyon, but in the second year, students
move around the various participating universities.
To obtain the diploma, the candidate sits written
and oral examinations and submits a dissertation.
The total number of teaching hours is estimated
at 325.SpainThe University of Barcelona offers a 2-year non-
residential course consisting of 14 modules
between 4-30 hours depending on the subject.
Courses are taught at the university one day per
week from January to June each year, representing
a total of 222 hours of teaching. Written examina-
tions are conducted twice a year. Successful can-
didates receive a Diploma in Pharmaceutical
Medicine.
The University of Madrid offers a 2-year non-
residential course which consists of 14 modules
from October to June and totalling 300 hours of
teaching at the University. Examinations, written
and oral, are conducted once a year; to register for
the examinations, students must have attended at
least 75% of the courses. Successful candidates
receive a Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine.PortugalThe University of Lisbon has, since 1999, offered a
6-month non-residential course in pharmaceutical
medicine taught every year from January till June.
The course has 11 modules with two 2-day sessions
per month, representing a total of 176 hours of
teaching. Assessments are made at the end of
each module, and only those students who have
passed the 11 assessments and have attended 100%
of the course are allowed to submit a dissertation of
20 000 words at the end of the course. Successful
candidates receive a Diploma in Pharmaceutical
Medicine recognized by the Portuguese National
Board of Physicians, where the ‘Pharmaceutical22 CH2 PHARMACEUTICAL MEDICINE AS A MEDICAL SPECIALTY