A well-balanced incentives system for pharmaceuticals is essential to support the development, production, and supply of off patent medicines. These medicines account for 70% of medicines dispensed in Europe, for the most serious conditions like cancer, auto immune diseases and cardiovascular disease.
One of the key milestones of the current European Commission mandate on health has been achieved with the formal establishment of the European Health Union. Initiated by the importance of coordinated action during the pandemic, the Health Union promises to improve access to medicines with available, accessible and affordable medicines.
Today, the European Commission presented EU guidance on public procurement of medicines which is critical to improve the security of supply for patients and health systems. There is a need for concrete improvements to the procurement process, including better demand predictability and ensuring multiple suppliers on the market.
Over 90% of the EU critical medicines list are essential, generic medicines. Medicines for Europe members manufacture these medicines so patients can live better and healthier lives, and health systems can be sustainable and strong to serve them. These medicines include treatments for cardiovascular disease, intensive care units, infections and cancers.
Enrico Letta’s Report on the Future of the Single Market highlights the need to encourage equity of medicine access, sustainable pricing and procurement models for supply and EU-wide funds for investments in medicine manufacturing in Europe.
The European pharmaceutical industry, represented by AESGP, EFPIA, and Medicines for Europe, has joined forces to enhance the content of medicinal product information leaflets, prioritising patients’ needs. These associations have put together key recommendations to improve leaflet content and accessibility, thus advancing health literacy.
European industry is making a united call to prevent the risk of de-industrialisation on our continent by relaunching Europe’s competitiveness.
The EU enters a new policy cycle at a challenging time, with technology and geopolitics acting as global disruptors, adding pressure to an already difficult economic situation. Now is the time to start building a strategic plan that unlocks the Single Market’s full potential and establishes a regulatory environment for the EU industry to remain globally competitive.
To tackle shortages, some EU Member States (France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Denmark and Poland) are increasingly instructing medicine manufacturers to stockpile, undermining EU solidarity and counter-intuitively exacerbating the risk of shortages. Stockpiling mandates prevent manufacturers from reallocating medicines to another EU country to solve a shortage.
Today, the European Parliament formally endorsed the deal on the revision of the European Pharmaceutical legislation. This compromise is the result of intense and lengthy debate, which aimed to improve the access, availability, and affordability of medicines and to prevent further delays of this much needed reform.
For the last three decades, the availability of cost-effective generic medicines has driven increased access to life-saving treatments for millions of patients in Europe. Today, these medicines are an integral part of the healthcare system.