EFPIA Welcomes High Level Pharmaceutical Forum Recommendations On Sector Competitiveness, But Urges Action

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 03 Oct 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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EFPIA, the voice of the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Europe, broadly welcomes the recommendations of the High Level Pharmaceutical Forum (HLPF). However EFPIA urges that some important measures have yet to be implemented, such as the non extra-territoriality of Member State price controls.

The HLPF is a high-level political platform for a broad range of stakeholders, including Ministers from all EU Member States, members of the European Parliament, the pharmaceutical industry, health care professionals, patients and health insurers. Working groups were set up to examine three specific topics - information to patients, pricing and relative effectiveness - with the objective of addressing the declining competitiveness of the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Europe and help it regain its position as worldwide leader and centre of excellence. Europe stands to benefit substantially from a strong, indigenous research - based pharmaceutical industry that will attract and retain talent.

"We welcome the Forum's recommendations and the political momentum it has generated around the need to strengthen the competitiveness of the European pharmaceutical industry and its contribution to Europe's wealth and health", said Arthur J. Higgins, CEO of Bayer HealthCare and President of EFPIA. "We now look forward to and expect a concrete follow up of this process and urge the European Commission and Member States to rapidly implement the Forum's Recommendations so that European patients and healthcare systems can benefit from the work that has been carried out over the past three years".

EFPIA calls upon the EU Institutions and Member States to ensure that the recommendations put forward by the working groups are implemented without delay. Implementing the Guiding Principles for Good Practices in Pricing and Reimbursement, limiting price controls to nationally used volumes and broadening the definition of 'value' when making pricing and reimbursement decisions, is a necessary step. Equally important is the implementation of the recommendations of the Good Practice Principles for Relative Effectiveness Assessment, which aim to increase the quality and consistency of Health Technology Assessment systems across Europe. The industry is fully supportive of, and willing to participate in any network which would facilitate this process. The Industry also supports the outcomes of the "Information to Patients" working group, i.e. the Quality Principles for Health Information and reminds the EU of the need to revisit the current rules on this topic, to allow European patients access to the high quality non promotional information from multiple sources, including the pharmaceutical industry.

"At a time when the European pharmaceutical market is witnessing increasing volatility and patients in Europe need more than ever access to new medicines, it is actions not words that are needed if we are to bring Europe back to the forefront of pharmaceutical innovation", concluded Arthur J. Higgins.

About EFPIA

EFPIA represents the pharmaceutical industry operating in Europe. Through its direct membership of 32 national associations and 43 leading pharmaceutical companies, EFPIA is the voice on the EU scene of 2,200 companies committed to researching, developing and bringing to patients new medicines that will improve health and the quality of life around the world.

The pharmaceutical industry accounts for no less than 19,3% of global business R&D expenditure. It is the sector with the highest ratio of R&D investment to net sales (15,9%). However, between 1990 and 2007, R&D investment in United States grew 5.2 times whilst in Europe it only grew 3.3 times, and there is rapid growth in the research environment in emerging economies such as China and India.

Today around 645,000 people work in this sector and it is estimated that three to four times more employment is generated indirectly both upstream and downstream. A significant proportion of people employed are highly skilled and 107,000 work in research and development. The European research-based pharmaceutical industry generates a substantial trade surplus, which was estimated at about €49,000 million for 2007. It has contributed significantly to reducing the European Union's trade deficit in high-tech products - today almost a quarter of the EU's high-tech exports are pharmaceutical products.

EFPIA