EFPIA welcomed the debate held in the European parliament last night.  Ensuring access to medicines for patients in Europe while supporting the continued development of life saving and life changing medicines is of paramount importance to EFPIA and its member companies.

In the context of the debate, it is important to note that the overall medicines bill in Europe is currently under control and does not pose a threat to the sustainability of healthcare financing in Europe. In fact, overall, medicines across Europe represent less than 15% of total expenditure although variances exist among therapy areas. These variations pose financial problems for current governments although overall spending has decreased.

Innovative medicines continue to make tremendous progress against deadly diseases: for example, over the past years, the death rate from HIV/AIDS decreased 83 percent; the cancer death rate has fallen by 20 percent and the 5-year survival rate climbed to 68 percent; and new hepatitis C therapies have cure rates of up to 90 percent.  In 2013, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended 81 new medicines for human use for marketing authorisation, compared with 57 in 2012, so the evidence suggests that pharmaceutical innovation will continue to deliver even more advances in patient care.

Richard Bergstrom, Director General of EFPIA said: “We welcome the debate on access to medicines but it is a debate that has to go beyond simply the cost of medicines.  Contrary to some of the views expressed in last night’s debate, our aim is not to promote spending on health or medicines at all costs, but to work with healthcare systems to ensure that spending on medicines, spending on healthcare as whole is informed by patient outcomes and based on an understanding of the broader societal, economic and health benefits of biomedical research and innovative medicines. Medicines are part of the solution in addressing the very real challenges faced by European healthcare systems.  EFPIA member companies have already shown in practice that they are open to new and pragmatic approaches and Industry is keen to be part of the debate.”