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.
Medicines for Europe members supply most of the essential prescription medicines in Europe, accounting for 67% of dispensed medicines. These medicines cover 80% of therapy areas, including for major and debilitating diseases such as cardiovascular disease, auto-immune conditions, cancer, and diabetes, among many others.
The upcoming European elections will have a significant impact on the future of health policy in Europe. EU policies and decisions can shape national health systems and influence the health and well-being of millions of citizens across Europe.
Today, the Members of the Parliament’s health committee (ENVI) adopted a compromise position on the EU Pharmaceutical legislation review (comprising of a new Pharmaceutical Directive and Regulation). The Parliament has prioritised advancing this important legislation to improve the access, availability, and affordability of medicines ahead of the EU elections in June 2024 and prevent further delays of this much needed reform.
The legislative reform being prepared by the EU plans to promote the use of already approved drugs for new ailments. This route allows to accelerate the approval of treatments and save costs in research.
Read the comment of our Director general and full Article below
The position adopted today by the European Parliament on the proposals for the Unitary Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) and SPC Regulation recast, led by MEP Tiemo Wolken, is a significant milestone for innovation and access to medicines across Europe in this important legislative process.
Medicines for Europe’s newly published position paper explores how the current design of procurement rules in EU Member States, often aimed exclusively at reducing costs, has led to the consolidation of supply and increased risks for supply security.