Brussels, 12/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - At the plenary session on Wednesday 11 February, the MEPs of the European Parliament discussed access to innovative medicines, at a session attended by the Latvian Secretary of State for European Affairs, Zanda Kalnina-Lukasevica, and the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, Christos Stylianides, who was representing the Vice-President of the European Commission, Jyrki Katainen. Given the high prices of new treatments for diseases such as hepatitis C, the MEPs and certain member states were prompted to reopen the debate on possible European measures to increase the transparency of the prices of pharmaceutical products.
Reiterating the conclusions of the Health Council of June 2014 on the economic crisis and its impact on the healthcare systems, and the conclusions of December 2014 on innovation in favour of patients, the Latvian Presidency stressed the willingness and the need for the member states to work together and exchange information to achieve acceptable medicine prices for patients. “The Latvian Presidency will ensure that these conclusions are implemented in the coming months”, Kalnina-Lukasevica stated. The Presidency also took note of the creation of an expert group on early and fair access to medicines, which started work two weeks ago. For his part, Stylianides stated that the Commission defended the principle of fair access to medicines for all patients and that it would support the efforts of the member states in this quest. Next week, the delegations of the member states responsible for public health will meet in Brussels to discuss innovation questions, in the framework of the conclusions of the December Council, he added.
Many MEPs took part in the discussions, stressing the need for greater transparency in prices and more coordination between the member states to bring pressure to bear on pharmaceutical companies, amongst others, not to set excessive prices on medicines. The German S&D member Matthias Groote also welcomed the opposition of the NGO Médecins du Monde to the patent on Sofosbuvir, following the submission of an application to the European Patent Office. This hepatitis C drug sells for exorbitant prices, but, Médecins du Monde argues, this molecule is not sufficiently innovative to merit a patent. If there is a successful outcome to this case, far cheaper generic versions will start to appear on the market. (Isabelle Lamberty)