EU Pharmaceutical Forum: delivering better information, access and prices

The European Commission High Level Pharmaceutical Forum (HLPF), set up in 2005 by Vice President Gunter Verheugen and Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou to follow up on a number of issues identified by the G10 Medicines Group, has issued a first progress report. This says that the Forum will take forward some of the most crucial issues outstanding from the G10 Medicines process, in particular Information to Patients, Relative Effectiveness and Pricing/Reimbursement. This report sets out the key areas where progress is being made and the directions for future work in the form of Conclusions for the Forum to adopt.

Mr Vereugen said, ahead of the release of the report, that "Europe is no longer the pharmacy of the world. We need to look urgently at the structural issues affecting the competitivity of the industry and respond to these challenges." Also, Mr Kyprianou noted that "patients in Europe do not have equal access to information on medicines. Today, we have agreed to set up concrete ways to help ensure that all European patients can have acces to information, no matter where they live or what language they speak."

The European pharmaceutical industry is making a major contribution to achieving the renewed Lisbon objectives and in fulfilling the growing needs in public health. It is a major contributor to Europe's science base and employment. However, it is facing a number of serious challenges and is losing ground vis-a-vis its global competitors, a Commission statement said. In parallel, the aging of the European population, the increasing health demands of the European patients and the high level of expenditure for innovative products are putting significant pressure on the social systems and public health budgets of member states. This outlined the progress on various aspects.