EU SANCO Commissioner designate will put patients and consumers first, but see Pharma competitive

European Members of Parliament are in the process of grilling prospective European Commissioners on their priorities and competences, among whom was John Dalli, Commissioner-designate for Health and Consumer Policy (SANCO), who is now Minister for Social Policy in Malta, as revealed by Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, last year (The Pharma Letter December 1, 2009).

In response to questioning, Mr Dalli: said that consumers and patients will be "the underlying theme of my work: patients first, consumers first," but stressed that this did "not exclude a strong commitment that the pharma industry remains competitive."

On consumer policy, he said he was in favor of clear, informative labeling to empower "well-informed" consumers "who can take educated decisions on the goods and services they consume". He also spoke about the need for a greater focus on prevention, forwarding the dossier on cross-border healthcare and working on issues like alcoholism, smoking and obesity.