Over 100 participants will explore different ways and opportunities to ensure universal access to healthcare, together with members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and healthcare stakeholders. We have jointly agreed that this issue should be a priority on the European political agenda.
“We have now a great opportunity to accelerate our work to date through the Patient Access Partnership and the Riga Roadmap, by also collaborating on the actions needed now to ensure the sustainable development goal on universal access becomes reality by 2030”. Nicola Bedlington, EPF Secretary General.
“Exchange of information and collaboration among the different stakeholders is indispensable to improve access to healthcare. The treatments must not only be available, they also have to be affordable. The annual meetings among the different actors in healthcare are a first step to foster dialogue in order to guarantee high quality health services for everybody”. Menno Aarnout, AIM Executive Director.
“The access to medicines debate is a social justice issue in Europe today. We need a comprehensive dialogue on all issues with a balanced involvement of all stakeholders”. Yannis Natsis, EPHA Policy Coordinator for Universal Access & Affordable medicines.
Better access to medicines leads to better health. For this reason, the EU needs to stimulate competition in pharmaceutical markets post-patent where generic and biosimilar medicines have demonstrated their ability to massively increase access to medicines without raising the overall treatment costs.
Speaking ahead of the event, Adrian van den Hoven, Medicines for Europe Director General, commented that “cooperation among stakeholders is key to improve access to healthcare in Europe. This annual gathering is a great opportunity to build a partnership with stakeholders to deliver access to high quality healthcare, including medicines to patients, while ensuring the sustainability of our systems”.
Medicines for Europe, EPF, EPHA and AIM are looking forward to further progress and milestones promoting better access for better health and to meeting in 2017 for the 4th Edition.
The European Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association is now Medicines for Europe Better access. Better health. Generic medicines are now the cornerstone of European healthcare, the Biosimilar medicines sector is developing rapidly, and the need and opportunity for Value Added medicines will further transform healthcare. Our industries supply the majority of Europe’s prescription medicines which is estimated to grow from the current 56% to 75% in volume over the next 5 years, as the demand for access to high quality medicines for European patients has never been greater. The repositioning of our association as Medicines for Europe aims to drive greater healthcare efficiency through better health outcomes while providing solutions for the sustainability of European healthcare systems facing increased demographic demands on healthcare services.
“Medicines for Europe Better access. Better health reflects our industries’ purpose and strategic objectives,” said Medicines for Europe President Jacek Glinka. “As an organisation we have been through an incredible journey responding to the changes that have taken place in the pharmaceutical industry and European healthcare environment. I invite stakeholders and policy-makers to engage with us to deliver access to high quality medicines for all European patients.”
Adrian van den Hoven, Medicines for Europe Director General, added: “Medicines for Europe is a great opportunity to build on the EGA’s established reputation for partnership with stakeholders and authorities to deliver access to high quality medicines for patients, its commitment to the highest levels of quality, and to bringing even more value to pharmaceuticals while bridging the sustainability of healthcare with a competitive pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.”
Barcelona – At their joint Executive meeting in Barcelona today, the Spanish Generic Medicines Association (AESEG) and the European Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (EGA) confirmed their commitment to join forces and bring access to generic medicines to the Spanish market, reinforcing the industry’s commitment to increase patient access to high quality medicines. A recent IGES study has shown that better access to generic medicines can have significant health outcome benefits for patients.
The AESEG and EGA Executives debated the importance of re-introducing price differentiation between originator and generic medicines to stimulate competition, the negative consequences of the procurement system in Andalusia and the SPC (Supplementary Protection Certificate) manufacturing waiver proposal which would create thousands of jobs for the Spanish pharmaceutical industry.
EGA Director General Adrian van den Hoven highlighted that “Our industry is ready to work with the Spanish authorities to remove barriers to competition and increase the cost-effectiveness of therapies to ensure better access to high quality medicines for patients”.
AESEG Director General Angel Luis Rodriguez de la Cuerda, pointed out that “7 out of 10 generic medicines in Spain are manufactured in Spain. Healthy generic competition in the Spanish market will provide additional value and jobs for the country. Therefore, the European Commission proposal for an SPC manufacturing waiver is essential to create new manufacturing and job opportunities in Spain. We call on the Spanish Government to strongly support this job creating measure in the EU”.
PICTURE (from left to right side): Adrian van den Hoven (EGA Director General), Christoph Stoller (EGA Vicepresident), Raúl Díaz-Varela (AESEG President), Ángel Luis Rodríguez de la Cuerda (AESEG Director General).
About the EGA (European Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association)
The EGA represents the European generic, biosimilar and value-added medicines industries, which provide high-quality cost-competitive medicines to millions of European patients. Companies represented within the EGA provide over 160,000 skilled, high value direct jobs in Europe. Without generic medicines, payers in Europe would have had to pay €100 billion more in 2014. Generic medicines account for 56% of all dispensed medicines but for only 22% of the pharmaceutical expenditure in Europe. The European generic and biosimilar medicines industries’ vision is to provide sustainable access to high quality medicines for all European patients, based on 5 important pillars: patients, quality, value, sustainability and partnership. For more information please follow EGA at www.egagenerics.com and on Twitter @egagenerics and @ebgbiosimilars.
EGA Communications: Doris Casares dcasares@egagenerics.com
About AESEG (Spanish Generic Medicines Association)
AESEG is the official representative body of the generic pharmaceutical industry in Spain. Any pharmaceutical company manufacturing raw materials and pharmaceutical active substances as well as technological development companies that focus activities on generic medicines in Spain can be a member of AESEG.
AESEG was constituted in Barcelona in March 1998 as a nationwide non-profit organisation, aimed to foster awareness and use of generic medicines and to create a real generic medicines culture in the heart of the Spanish society. For more information : www.aeseg.es and www.engenerico.com
AESEG Communications: Marisol Atencio matencio@aeseg.es
Brussels – Generic and biosimilar medicines represent an essential opportunity to optimize the efficiency of healthcare systems in Italy, according to an article published this week in the Journal of Generic Medicines, Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Use and Expenditure: A Report from the National Observatory on the Use of Medicines (OsMed) of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA).
The article signed by Alessandro Monaco from AIFA highlights the opportunity for generic and biosimilar medicines to enable access and meet the growing demand of healthcare systems in terms of the effectiveness of therapies and to address the sustainability of healthcare budgets. AIFA also underlines the importance of generic and biosimilar competition for the overall sustainability of healthcare systems.
Assogenerici Director General, Michele Uda, welcomed the AIFA publication: “Today when we measure the practical impact of innovation on pharmaceutical expenditure, with antivirals for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C, it seems evident that biosimilars can not only contain public pharmaceutical spending, but directly impact on the access to gold standard therapies and allow, at the same time, the use of the latest generation therapies, thanks to the release of the necessary resources. But it is clear, as stated by the AIFA, this requires first of all a work of general acculturation, now urgently needed, given the imminent arrival of other expensive treatments. We hope that the important messages that the AIFA addressed to the scientific community and healthcare decision makers are taken into due consideration”.
EGA Director General, Adrian van den Hoven, commented that “AIFA’s article confirms the efforts by generic and biosimilar manufacturers to invest heavily to bring better access for patients and more sustainability to pharmaceutical markets in Italy. For example, thanks to biosimilar filgrastim, 44% more cancer patients gained access to this life saving treatment in the EU5 countries ”.
About the EGA (European Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association)
The EGA represents the European generic, biosimilar and value-added medicines industries, which provide high-quality cost-competitive medicines to millions of European patients. Companies represented within the EGA provide over 160,000 skilled, high value direct jobs in Europe. Without generic medicines, payers in Europe would have had to pay €100 billion more in 2014. Generic medicines account for 56% of all dispensed medicines but for only 22% of the pharmaceutical expenditure in Europe. The European generic and biosimilar medicines industries’ vision is to provide sustainable access to high quality medicines for all European patients, based on 5 important pillars: patients, quality, value, sustainability and partnership. For more information please follow EGA at www.egagenerics.com and on Twitter @egagenerics and @ebgbiosimilars.
EGA Communications: Doris Casares dcasares@egagenerics.com
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About Assogenerici (Italian Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association)
Assogenerici is the official representative body of the Italian generic and biosimilar pharmaceutical industry. Formed in 1993, Assogenerici represents over 60 pharmaceutical companies and their subsidiaries. Companies represented within Assogenerici provide over 5,000 direct jobs in Italy. Cost-effective generic medicines save Italian patients and healthcare systems over €400 million each year, thus helping to ensure patient access to essential medicines and providing urgently needed budget headroom for new and innovative treatments. Assogenerici plays an important consultative role in Italian healthcare policy-making. Assogenerici and its members work with the Italian government and the EU institutions to develop affordable solutions for pharmaceutical care and to increase Italy’s competitive strength in the global pharmaceutical medicines market.
ASSOGENERICI Communications: Massimo Cherubini m.cherubini@vrelations.it
After a long dry spell, the pharmaceutical research industry has brought to market a spate of innovative treatments that can extend life and often have fewer side effects than older treatments. But these medicines are not affordable to most of the people who need them. Recent treatments for hepatitis C and cancer – both widespread conditions globally – can cost from $50,000 annually to well over $150,000.