EFPIA welcomes debate on Commission panel report on access to health services in the EU

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations ( EFPIA) welcomes the debate on access to health services, valuing its important contribution in the face of challenges to European health systems sustainability, in response to the European Commission opinion of the Expert Panel on Access to Health Services.

“It is for this reason, though, that we believe the debate must go beyond a discussion on the cost of individual medicines and the pharmaceutical sector in isolation,” the trade group said on Friday.

Europe needs outcomes driven, sustainable models of healthcare delivery that focus on improving patients’ health in a holistic and evidence-based way. Europe must have systems that allocate resources towards those interventions that deliver the best possible outcomes and away from those that don’t, these systems improve quality. This is often less expensive in the long-term and thus more sustainable than the current transaction-oriented approach to healthcare, the EFPIA argues.