ESIP responds to the Public Consultation on the EU Pharmaceutical Strategy

Ahead of the release of the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, the European Social Insurance Platform (ESIP) submitted its contribution to the related Public Consultation and welcomed the Commission’s initiative to ensure equal access to safe, quality and affordable medicines, while promoting the sustainability of healthcare systems.

With a view to availability and access to medicines, ESIP acknowledges that the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the risk of shortages, putting a strain on healthcare systems. To ensure access to essential medicines across the EU, ESIP calls for stronger obligations on Marketing Authorisation Holders to secure supply, sanctions in the case of failure to supply and/or abuse of monopoly positions, as well as further cooperation and exchange among Member States. The possibility of establishing an EU-level stockpiling system should also be considered.

Regarding affordability, ESIP deplores market failures due to unsustainable prices, both for patients and payers, restricting access to medicines. In this context, ESIP calls for more transparent costs of R&D and production, as well as fair return on public investment, namely via conditionality clauses. Furthermore, ESIP calls for the creation of discussion fora to exchange best practices in the area of pricing and procurement.

With respect to innovation, ESIP calls for the establishment of an EU Institute of Health to steer innovative research towards public health priorities and high unmet medical need such as antimicrobials, cancer, orphan and paediatric medicines. And regarding digital technologies, ESIP stresses the need for quality standards and a purposeful use of Real-World Data and Artificial Intelligence, in full respect of data confidentiality.

Finally, ESIP calls on the European Commission to make a series of studies on: the impact of shortages on patient’s health and public health expenditure; the impact of prices on access to medicinal products; how public investment is reflected in prices; and the opportunities and risks of digital technologies applied to healthcare.

In annex to the questionnaire, ESIP attached its previous feedback to the Pharmaceutical Strategy roadmap and two position papers: on orphan medicinal products (OMP) and on antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Read ESIP response to public consultation on the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe here.