Critical Medicines Alliance to Act?

By Euractiv’s Health Hub

With many EU states grappling with medicine shortages, health ministers finally have their first chance to discuss the Commission’s proposal, for a Critical Medicines Alliance face-to-face in Brussels today (24 April), on the second day of the informal Health Council.

“I believe in a Europe that not only cares, and prepares, but also protects, we must be able to reassure people. First of all, medicines will be there when people go to the pharmacists. We have a very ambitious agenda for tackling the complex issue of medicine shortages with a comprehensive, collaborative, and solidarity-driven approach,” Belgian Health Minister Vandenbroucke told Euractiv. Read more here. 

The Commission proposal set out measures in the short to near-term, as well as longer-term structural reforms. Measures include a voluntary solidarity mechanism, closer monitoring of blockages in the supply chain, and joint actions to accelerate medicine distribution.

Pharma Package

Supply security measures are proposed in the revised pharmaceutical legislation to address these issues and the European Medicines Agency posted their first set of recommendations yesterday. 

An alliance is not an act

The Belgians want to go further than an alliance and point to a ‘non-paper’ supported by 23 states exploring the idea of a Critical Medicines Act. The most pressing concern is the situation with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), where there is growing dependence on external supplies from India or China.

EU countries are looking at how the EU can boost its manufacturing capacity to address shortages and what they consider to be unfair competition from countries that have lower environmental standards and generous public subsidies. What we can expect from today’s meeting is an agreement to further explore the idea.

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Critical Medicines

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) publishes its recommendations to address vulnerabilities in the production and delivery of medicines on the EU’s critical list. Read more.

Climate change

Europe saw a record number of ‘extreme heat stress’ days, report warns. In the last two decades in Europe, extreme heat-related mortality has increased by around 30%, according to a joint report by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) published on Tuesday (22 April). Read more.

Disability

Human rights NGOs tackle France’s inaction towards the rights of disabled people. Human rights NGOs denounced on Wednesday (17 April) the French government’s failure to ensure the rights of people with disabilities are respected, one year after the Council of Europe issued their reprimands. Read more.

Mental health

Spain will include ‘work-related mental health’ in disease surveillance. Spain’s Ministry of Health will include work-related mental health in its national epidemiological surveillance system. Belén González, the coordinator of the initiative, told Euractiv’s partner EFE in an interview that “work is breaking workers”. Read more.

Vaccination

Vaccine-preventable disease is on the rise in Europe. During the COVID-19 confinement, many contagious pathogens were also suppressed; with society opening up combined with vaccine hesitancy, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and whooping cough (pertussis) are on the rise. Read more.

EU elections

Survey finds health is a top concern for voters. Eurobarometer’s latest survey ahead of European elections in June shows that health is one of the top issues for voters. Read more. 

French Greens’ top candidate wants ‘European pharmaceutical sovereignty’. Marie Toussaint, the lead of the French Greens’ campaign for the June European elections, presented a plan for a “European pharmaceutical sovereignty” at a press conference on Friday (19 April), after media reported that a French pharma company could be acquired by Indian buyers. Read more.

News from the capitals

ATHENS
The Greek government is firmly opposed to any changes to the duration of the regulatory protection period (RDP) in the EU Pharma Package, with Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis pointing to negative consequences for Europe and Greece, as the file moves from Parliament to Council. Read more.

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WARSAW
Polish patient education needed to boost clinical trial success. Poland’s clinical trials give access to innovative therapies for over 25,000 patients, but a new Medical Research Agency survey reports half of Poles lack any real understanding of clinical trials, hindering long-term success. Read more.

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SOFIA
Cancer mortality in Bulgaria is growing, while treatment costs double. Bulgaria remains the only country in the EU where the death rate from oncological diseases continues to rise. Patients face financial and organisational difficulties in accessing treatment, even though public funding has more than doubled in the past five years. Read more.

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PRAGUE
Centre-based treatment in Czechia yields results, but costs soar. A new analysis by Ernst & Young (EY) for the Czech Association of Innovative Pharmaceutical Industry (AIFP) underscores the benefits of centre-based medical care in Czechia. However, rising costs are fast straining the business model. Read more.

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BRUSSELS
Belgian Presidency continues push to fight medicine shortages. The Belgian Presidency is gearing up to tackle the escalating issue of medicine shortages across Europe. Experts call for enhanced collaboration, solidarity, and transparency to combat this crisis effectively. Read more.

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THE HAGUE
Reduce Dutch cancer care inequalities with a ‘Health in All Policies’ approach, say cancer advocates. The Netherlands has been confronted with a new report showing inequalities in cancer screening between people with high and low incomes. Advocates are calling for public health to be embedded in all types of policies to reduce treatment disparities. Read more.

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BUDAPEST
Hungary wants new approach to manage growing drug shortages. Hungary’s Minister of State for Health, Péter Takács, has said a new approach is needed to allow Hungary to choose medicines better suited to the national health budget. Read more.

On the agenda

24 April: Belgian Presidency ceremonial launch of the Critical Medicines Alliance

24-25 April European Parliament plenary: Final votes on the so-called “SoHO” – substances of human origin regulation and the European Health Data Space and the revision to the Ambient Air Quality Directives.

21–27 April: The WHO European Region celebrates European Immunization Week (EIW) to promote awareness of the importance of immunization in preventing diseases and protecting life. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). Over five decades EPI has protected millions of people from serious vaccine-preventable illnesses.

29 April event in support of European Citizens’ Initiative ‘My Voice, My Choice: For safe and accessible abortion’, Brussels Press Club.

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]

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