Aiming for a #HealthyEU. Countdown to European elections – 6 weeks to go
11.04.14
Continuing EFPIA’s #HealthyEU campaign, EFPIA’s Director Health Policy, Brendan Barnes, speaks on last week’s first ever EU Summit on Chronic Diseases – and how the growing impact of chronic diseases serves as another reminder of the need for an integrated life sciences strategy in the EU.
Last week I had the opportunity to participate in the first EU summit on chronic diseases – the discussion was timely and much needed. Already, chronic disease account for 75% (over €700 billion) of Europe’s healthcare bill and are responsible for up to a 7% GDP loss in some countries.[1] Key risk factors for chronic diseases – such as age and adult obesity – are projected to increase. With this, we can also expect an increased incidence and impact of chronic diseases.
Europe’s key challenge is to see translation of good ideas into practice if we are to have the needed impact on chronic diseases. We need to champion well-validated innovative approaches, be these new medicines, or new forms of social intervention. One ambition of EFPIA’s Health & Growth Campaign is to increase healthy life years and reduce hospitalisation rates in chronic disease by 10% by 2020. It’s an ambitious goal but with a collaborative effort – it shouldn’t be impossible.
From my side, I see two key priorities for the pharmaceutical industry: The first is to make better use of medicines both by improving early diagnosis, by encouraging adherence to existing therapy and by improving access to existing therapies. In summary, getting medicines to patients earlier. For example, within Europe, we have widespread disparities in access to innovative treatments that have demonstrated improved outcomes.
The second is to develop new medicines, including personalised medicines. As well as well-accepted therapeutic objectives in areas like cancer, we need to acknowledge that the frontier of innovation has changed. The social burden of chronic disease should lead to greater importance being attached to innovations that enhance personal autonomy through, for instance, convenience of administration and reduced side effects.
This requires that we think in an integrated way about the contribution of innovation and break down some of the silos between health and social systems. We need to recognise that this is a bigger systemic issue, one that will require a flexible but holistic vision. It is not just a question of regulation, but also of mobilisation and incentives.
Where the EU can play a greater leadership role is in joining up the different pieces and encouraging others to do the same. We already had the example of a combined prevention agenda linking chronic and communicable diseases – a good start. The diversity represented at last week’s Summit is also a good sign, indicating that diverse stakeholders are willing to sit down together at the table and discuss positive steps forward.
There is a bigger goal in moving towards a focus on health outcomes. The outcome for the individual is what links the whole system together. It enables everyone who is contributing to that outcome to align their efforts and it shines a clear light on failures to adopt best practice. We need better thinking about how to create an outcome-driven focus throughout our health systems. This is one of many steps that will bring us closer to a #HealthyEU for the future.
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[1] The Economist Intelligence Unit (2012).
