Drug-makers have called for a relaxation of the law in order to allow them to provide information directly to patients.
Alice Chin, vice-president of the Hong Kong Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry, said patients should have alternative sources of information besides those provided by doctors.
'This would allow patients to better understand both old and new drugs,' she said on a Metro Finance radio programme.
However, Dr Ko Wing-man, Hospital Authority deputy director (operations and public affairs), dismissed the proposal on the programme, saying most patients did not have sufficient medical training to understand the information.
He said the authority planned to post findings by its Drug Advisory Committee on its Web site explaining why some new drugs had been adopted while others were rejected at public hospitals.
In an official statement yesterday, the authority said $65 million had been saved in the past three years from selecting drugs which were cheaper but equally effective. It said drug safety and effectiveness remained its top priority.
