European generics trade group urges addressing medicines affordability and availability risks

With pensioners set to represent over 60% of the working population by 2060 in Europe, the pharmaceutical industry must rise to the challenge of an aging population, it was stressed by the trade group European Generic medicines Association (EGA).

“Health problems increase with age, with health care sectors spending in the region of 10% extra to treat retirees. This clearly puts an onus on the industry to provide solutions and take on additional responsibility,” outlined EGA president Edda Eggertsdottir to delegates at the 18th EGA Annual General Conference in Malta last week.

Generic and biosimilar medicines manufacturers have a vital contribution to make towards this effort, particularly with their ability to offer high quality care at a lower cost. In fact, data supplied by healthcare consultancy IMS Health show that if the use of biosimilar and generic medicines were to increase by 20%, a saving of over billion euros ($4.99 billion) could be achieved in the field of oncology alone. Across all therapeutic areas, this could translate into savings in excess of €16 billion.