Factors threatening access to essential medicines

Access to off-patent medicines is essential to increase competition, offer accessible and affordable treatments and for the budgetary sustainability of healthcare systems in Europe, as highlighted by a European Parliament report adopted this week, said Medicines for Europe, the trade group representing generic and biosimilars drugmakers.

However, as European Union governments struggle to cope with the economic and financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, several countries are proposing further cost containment measures for off-patent medicines, which cover 70% of prescription medicine supply across Europe at just 25% of the total cost.

Many essential off-patent medicines have already been subject to strict price regulation (often referred to as reference pricing), successive price cutting measures, and budget adjustment measures (such as clawback) for many years. These measures have led to substantial price erosion, which is now compounded by mounting inflation across Europe and the recent increase in global production costs: raw material costs have tripled, shipping rates are six times more expensive, airfreight costs have more than tripled, energy costs rose by more than 230% last year with overall producer prices increasing by 10%. Against this background, further price cuts would be simply unsustainable for manufacturers. This creates serious risks for medicines supply and availability.