The newly elected President of Medicines for Europe – Marc-Alexander Mahl – launched the “Access to Medicines: Better Care for More Patients” campaign which calls on health ministers to fully embrace generic, biosimilar and value-added medicines to improve the sustainability of healthcare systems across Europe.
Dr. Mahl takes over the Presidency of Medicines for Europe for 2 years. As Executive Vice President Business Unit Generic Drugs at Fresenius Kabi, Marc-Alexander Mahl chaired the Hospital Sector at Medicines for Europe. A physician by training, he completed his specialization in transfusion medicine and blood banking in 2001, the year he also joined Fresenius Kabi. He also holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD.
Today, in Warsaw, Marc-Alexander Mahl explained: “European healthcare is under financial constraint with many patients struggling to get access to treatments. The increasing overall cost of healthcare will force policy-makers to make difficult and unpopular choices about how best to allocate resources. Yet there is a very simple and obvious way to ensure access while managing healthcare budgets: to promote generic, biosimilar and value added medicines use by patients, medical professionals and pharmacists.” The new campaign will provide compelling data and proposals to help policy-makers and stakeholders improve access to medicines. In particular, the campaign will help policy-makers encourage competition in complex, specialty medicine markets where there are tremendous opportunities to increase access, spend resources more efficiently and improve overall care for patients.
Value added medicines represent a major opportunity to improve patients’ quality of life, health outcomes or adherence, and to address a number of medicine-related healthcare inefficiencies, improving healthcare provision and organisation while contributing to the sustainability of healthcare systems.
To ensure access to value added medicines for patients, the Value Added Medicines Group, a sector group of Medicines for Europe, will participate in the ISPOR 20th Annual European Congress on an Issue Panel entitled “Value Added Medicines: Time To Adjust The Health Technology Assessment Decision Frameworks?”.
Moderated by Professor Michael Drummond (Professor of Health Economics at the Univerity of York), the panellists (Professor Mondher Toumi from the Public Health Department of Aix-Marseille University, Professor Ulf Persson from the Swedish Institute of Health Economics and Luigi Burgio – Head of Market Access Teva Italy and Chairman of the HTA Working Group at Medicines for Europe) will debate current challenges for capturing the benefits of value added medicines as well as key recommendations to integrate and recognise patient-centric innovation in HTA decision frameworks.
Umberto Comberiati, the Chairman of the Value Added Medicines Group,: “The time has come to explore new areas to deliver better health and access for patients, tapping into a sustainable source of patient-centric innovation. Value added medicines are an opportunity to deliver benefits to patients, payers and healthcare systems. However, there is a challenge to ensure that benefits can be appropriately assessed via HTA decision frameworks. The ISPOR Issue Panel will allow an informed debate among experts, industry and stakeholders.”
Medicines for Europe invites you to join the ISPOR European Congress in Glasgow and please follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to know more about how European patients can better benefit from value added medicines. More information on the Issue Panel and the challenges and recommendations on adjusted HTA decision frameworks for value added medicines can be found here.
A new study “Value Added Medicines: Time to Adjust the HTA Decision Frameworks” was launched today in Brussels with the support of the Value Added Medicines Group, a sector group of Medicines for Europe. The study, conducted by Mondher Toumi, Professor of Public Health at Aix-Marseille University, highlights the need for adjustments in HTA decision frameworks to ensure that European patients can benefit from value added medicines. Professor Mondher Toumi emphasised that “value added medicines represent an opportunity for increasing the cost-effectiveness of treatments or services that may bring substantial value to individual patients and society. However, the current European HTA decision frameworks represent various challenges for the full value recognition of these products, which need to be addressed.”
According to the study, which counted on the important feedback of key HTA experts across Europe, value added medicines make a major contribution to patients’ quality of life, health outcomes or adherence, and address a number of medicine-related healthcare inefficiencies, improving healthcare provision and organisation while contributing to the sustainability of healthcare systems. The study underlines the importance of the eligibility of value added medicines for HTA, whenever requested, in order to demonstrate these relevant improvements. There is a need to adjust HTA decision frameworks to ensure that all benefits of value added medicines are appropriately captured and to ensure a patient-centric assessment. The manufacturers of value added medicines should also have the opportunity to get early HTA advice in order to better shape their clinical development plan. Professor Toumi commented that “taking into consideration the specific benefits of value added medicines will need efforts both on the research and policy fronts, but also the involvement of a broad range of stakeholders in the decision-making process”. Ten key recommendations are put forward in the report to ensure that value added medicines can be rightfully assessed by HTA decision frameworks in the future.
Umberto Comberiati, Chair of the Value Added Medicines Group ad interim, commented: ‘Research on known molecules is a valuable untapped opportunity for European patients and healthcare professionals alike. There is an urge to support research and adjust the HTA policy frameworks to encourage industry to invest in medicines with high potential value to patients and society and capitalise on healthcare professionals’ expertise. We are ready to work together with patients, healthcare professionals, policy makers and payers on how to ensure patients can benefit from value added medicines in Europe.”
Biosimilar medicines are transforming treatment by enabling better access to biological medicines in Europe and around the world, as stated today during the second day of the joint Medicines for Europe-IGBA conference in Lisbon. The IGBA (International Generic and Biosimilar Association) has commissioned new user-friendly material to acquaint and empower stakeholders with relevant information on the science and benefits of biosimilar medicines.
A new study on value added medicines highlights the necessary reforms in health technology assessment (HTA) decision frameworks in Europe to ensure market entrance of value added medicines to improve the treatment of chronic diseases in areas such as respiratory or mental health treatment. This innovative methodology will also enable new business models for value added antibiotics to address the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Jacek Glinka, Medicines for Europe President commented: “Biosimilar and value added medicines can significantly improve healthcare for patients – if better access is pro-actively supported by all stakeholders. It took 25 years to create access for generic medicines, European patients cannot afford to wait that long for biosimilar medicines to come”.
Adrian van den Hoven, IGBA Chair highlighted that “The IGBA is committed to improving the information about the opportunities that biosimilar medicines can bring for patients around the world. We look forward to close cooperation with the WHO, governments and stakeholders to deliver better access to biological medicines”.
During the two-day conference, pharmaceutical industry leaders and key stakeholders from the generic, biosimilar and value added medicines sectors met in Lisbon to foster international partnership, cooperation and dialogue to address public health challenges for the future. Several key studies presented at the conference highlight the need for a major overhaul of medicines policies to stimulate more access to generic, biosimilar and value added medicines.
The International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGBA) was founded as IGPA (International Generic Pharmaceutical Alliance) in March 1997 to strengthen cooperation between associations representing manufacturers of generic medicines. Its membership includes Medicines for Europe (Europe), the CGPA (Canada), the AAM (USA), the JAPM (Jordan), the Generic & Biosimilar Southern Africa (South Africa), the TGPA (Taiwan) and the JGA (Japan) while the associations from Australia (GBMA), Brazil (ProGenericos), Malaysia (MOPI) and Mexico (AMEGI) are Associate Members. The IGBA is at the forefront of stimulating competitiveness and innovation in the pharmaceutical sector by providing high quality pro-competitive medicines to millions of patients around the world. Through its constituent member associations, the IGBA maintains constant dialogue with government authorities (including the European Commission for Europe) as well as with international institutions such as WTO, WIPO and WHO. More information: www.igbamedicines.org