Nursing leaders have joined a campaign to prevent the public marketing of prescription drugs.
The Royal College of Nursing has teamed up with the consumers’ organisation Which? for the campaign.
The European Commission is considering liberalising strict rules which prevent pharmaceutical companies from marketing products directly to patients.
Critics say it leads to companies pouring millions into direct marketing to doctors and that patients do not know about this.
But the RCN says the new rules might lead to patients being wrongly influenced to seek the most expensive and "profitable" drugs.
RCN chief executive Dr Peter Carter said: "The RCN, along with Which?, supports patients having access to the latest information about health, disease, treatments and medicines, but we are concerned pharmaceutical industries will simply provide details of the most profitable drugs, instead of drugs which would best meet their needs.
"The European Commission has failed to consider alternative options, including recognising the role of nurse prescribers, who can deliver high quality information to patients on medicinal products.
"The European Commission is potentially putting the health of patients in jeopardy, the RCN is calling for greater transparency if we are to protect the quality of information being provided to patients."
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