Medicines for Europe marks 30 years of delivering more equitable access to off-patent medicines as it opens its annual European conference in Dublin, in partnership with Medicines for Ireland.
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.
2024 marks the occasion of the 20th annual biosimilar medicines conference. Since its first edition, the conference has been the stage of vivid multi-stakeholders debates and discussions. Year-on-year, it has provided the opportunity to hear for EU and international experts and witness the unfolding of a regulatory-science success story and more importantly, a story where patients and healthcare professionals have observed and realised,
the significant health value smart biosimilar medicines policy can bring (over 5.8bn patient treatment days of safe clinical use) while contributing to the sustainability and resilience of healthcare system (€50bn cumulated savings since 2006, €10bn in 2023 alone).
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.