EU Commission medicines availability proposals viewed by Finnish pharma

The amendments envisaged in the European Union legislation could accelerate the price and reimbursability examination process in Finland, says the local trade group Pharma Industry Finland (PIF), commenting on the recent European Commission announcement of proposals for faster access to medicines (The Pharma Letter March 2).

In its Medicines Policy document, Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health undertook to develop the national procedure and the new directive proposal will impact this work. The PIF says it continues to collaborate with the Pharmaceuticals Pricing Board (PPB) on reimbursability issues. A well-working application procedure is increasingly important for the availability of medicines if the Finnish wholesale prices are further cut, moving domestic prices away from the price level in other EU countries, the PIF notes.

The so-called transparency directive relating to the openness of medicines price and reimbursability decisions is going to be revised. The directive determines the basic criteria for the medicines reimbursement decisions (reimbursements paid by the Social Insurance Institution Kela), including the decision-making deadlines, impartial examination criteria and obligation to motivate the decisions.