Medicines for Europe, representing the European value-added medicines industry, is calling for legislative reforms that will pave the way for patient access to safe, timely and affordable innovation for known medicines.
Medicines repurposing has emerged as an important strategy to address patients’ needs.
The first drafts of the European Parliament position on the proposals for Unitary SPC and SPC Regulation recast proposed by the Rapporteur Tiemo Wölken and published last week by the European Parliament are a step in the right direction for access to medicines across Europe.
The off-patent medicines industry provides 70% of medicines dispensed to patients in Europe, covering over 80% of therapy areas. Medicines for Europe is committed to working with the EU to secure the supply of essential and critical medicines for public health.
Background: Price erosion of generic medicines over time as a result of existing pricing policies in combination with increasing operational costs of these products due to high inflation, undermine long-term sustainable competition in European off-patent medicines markets. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify new potential pricing models for retail generic medicines in Europe, examine their pros and cons, and illustrate them with examples inside or outside the pharmaceutical sector.
The off-patent medicines industry provides 70% of medicines dispensed to patients in Europe covering over 80% of therapy areas. Generic, biosimilar and value added medicines make treatment options affordable, accessible, and available, so that patients can best manage their disease. These medicines also played a pivotal role during the covid outbreak, where between 70% and 90% of ICU medicines were off patent.
The off-patent medicines sector accounts for almost 70% of medicines dispensed in Europe, helping to manage the most prevalent chronic diseases including cancer, auto-immune conditions, cardiac disease, and diabetes. Value added medicines promise affordable, patient-centred innovation which can address serious health needs.
The European Parliament ENVI Committee voted today to ensure that the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system, envisaged in the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, does not jeopardise the affordability, accessibility and availability of generic medicines, which account for around 70% of prescriptions.
Medicines for Europe met today in Brussels with a high level Ukrainian government delegation led by Maryna Slobodnichenko, Deputy Minister of Health European Integration. Medicines for Europe put forward ideas on how to plan for the future integration process which requires a lot of regulatory and market policy alignment.
We understand the importance of stimulating competition in the pharmaceutical market for budget sustainability. However, EURIPID and other authorities have clearly indicated that ERP should not be applied in combination with generic reference pricing policies because this distorts the market and undermines the commercial viability of supplying the market.
The EU pharmaceutical strategy aims to improve accessibility, affordability and sustainability of medicines for European patients and healthcare systems with a focus on the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region.
Generic, Biosimilar and Value-Added Medicines play an essential role in the sustainability of healthcare systems by bringing competition to the market, providing healthcare systems budget relief and enabling the reinvestments of savings into greater access to medicines.