Sustaining Access to Medicines in Europe:
The coming crisis
2 November 2001
26 September 2001
While the need to increase access to essential medicines in developing countries
has received a great deal of attention from policy-makers and the media, HAI
Europe and Medico International believe more discussion needs to take place
on the growing cost of medicines in Europe and the consequences for national
governments’ ability to sustain access to needed medicines for patients.
The seminar described on the following pages aims to highlight some of the key elements involved in sustaining access to needed medicines in Europe. It will examine the issue from both the European Union and national perspective, and will include a discussion of some of the possible tools already available to countries to address the access problem.
Speakers representing the consumer movement, the public health arena, independent drug bulletins, the generics industry and the insurance sector will describe their concerns about access in the region. Prime issues affecting access will be included in the day’s debate, including:
- the growing pressure member states face in trying to balance the interests of the stakeholders involved in the debate
- the EU Commission’s recent move towards allowing some types of direct-to-consumer advertising and its implications for public health and national health budgets
- the pharmaceutical industry’s insistence that regulators approve medicines as quickly as possible despite some experts’ concerns that such "fast-tracking" could harm consumer health
- the effect that EU policy on access will have on nations in Central and Eastern Europe and around the world
- as most new medicines are copycats rather than innovative, how can rising medicines costs be justified by the industry?
For more information, contact:
Health Action International Europe
Jacob van Lennepkade 334-T
1053 NJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
tel: (+31-20) 683 3684
fax: (+31-20) 685 5002
e-mail: info@haiweb.org
Obermainanlage 7
60314 Frankfurt/Main, Germany
tel: (+49-69) 944 38 0
fax: (+49-69) 43 60 02
e-mail: info@medico.de
http://www.medico.de