[First meeting of the French CEIP (centres d'évaluation et d'information sur la pharmacodépendance). Assessment of the abuse and pharmacodependence potential during drug development].

The French system for the evaluation of abuse and dependence created in 1990 was definitely implemented in 1999 with the decree no99-249 making in particular mandatory the reporting of all serious cases of abuse or dependence to psychoactive drugs. This decree was also important to define the role of each party (regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical companies, health professionals and the network of the regional Centres for Evaluation and Information of Pharmacodependence) for all marketed psychoactive drugs in France. The first meeting on pharmacodependence was organized during the last annual congress of the French Society of Therapeutic Pharmacology and Physiology (P2T) held in Toulouse in April 2007. The aim of this meeting was that the role of the French system for the evaluation of abuse and dependence during the different steps of drug approval and after marketing in the context of real life would be better known. The French approach includes classical data obtained from experimental and clinical trials, but also and mainly data obtained from the specific tools installed since the creation of the CEIP.