EFPIA Annual Report
Illness never sleeps, so neither do we
EFPIA Annual Report
The challenges faced by healthcare in Europe is often the subject of debate in Brussels. And despite the many challenges, it really is worth remembering that the rising demand for health services driven by an ageing population is the result of a European success story.
Over the last 50 years, life expectancy across the EU has risen by over a decade. We have seen dramatic advances in prevention and in treatment for diseases such as cancer, heart disease, HIV, inflammatory disease and hepatitis C. With over 7000 medicines in development and rapid advances in diagnostics, devices, imaging and data analytics there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future health of Europe.
To realise this potential will require new levels of partnership and collaboration. No one sector has all the answers and by working together we can continue to transform the lives of patients and their families, make Europe a world leader in medical R&D and drive the growth of the European economy.
Much of the focus in 2018 has been on partnership and collaboration to tackle some of these grand challenges together. For example, the EU Health Summit, in which EFPIA was a contributing partner, brought together 29 organisations from across healthcare and the life sciences sector, developing concrete recommendations for the new EU Commission and Parliament to action on health.
Discussions around Horizon Europe and Europe’s new Public Private Partnership for Health have focused on going beyond medicines to include partners from diagnostics, devices and data analytics. EFPIA entered in to a strategic partnership with the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement to standardise definitions of outcomes to facilitate more patient-centred, outcomes focused health systems. There are many more examples included in this Annual Report.
During 2019, EFPIA will look to continue to promote collaboration as a partner in the fight against disease. Our role in that fight is to develop new treatments and cures that can transform the lives of patients. Access to those new treatments is a goal we share with everyone in healthcare. We need to create an environment that fosters and supports the development of new treatments for diseases like dementia, diabetes, AMR and cancer knowing that innovation is only meaningful when patients get access to it. In 2019 we will continue to work with governments and health system stakeholders to find solutions that ensure patients get access to the new wave of treatments coming through and we can continue to drive Europe’s health success story.