Call for action to protect patient access to essential meds as inflation bites

Inflation across Europe has now risen above 10%. As a result, this has increased the manufacturing costs of essential, off patent medicines, which account for 70% of those dispensed in Europe. These medicines treat serious, debilitating conditions such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and auto-immune conditions.

To combat inflation and preserve access to medicines, Medicines for Europe, which represents the generic and biosimilar sector, calls for action in two key areas.

The first is to reform medicines procurement and pricing models to include security of supply as criteria. Additionally, drugmakers should be allowed to adjust off-patent medicine prices in line with inflation.