The security of supply of medicines and the digitisation of the sector were the focus of the informal meeting of European health ministers in Vienna on 10 and 11 September. As dictated by practice, no decisions were taken at the meeting, although the Austrian presidency of the Council highlighted a shared desire of cooperation among the member states.
According to Austrian heath minister Beate Hartinger Klein, the participants pledged to take joint efforts to establish a catalogue of demands, standards and formats for setting up an interoperable digital infrastructure across the whole of Europe for suppliers of healthcare. She kicked into touch, however, when a journalist asked how the negotiations on the assessment of health technologies were going, which will make it possible to assess a medicine’s therapeutic value-added.
Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis pointed out at a press conference that the Commission has an important supporting role to play for the development of e-health, but it is for the member states to provide patients with digital solutions. He also pointed out that changes to the rules on paediatric medicines were under way and would be finalised next year.
In total, around fifteen ministers travelled to the meeting. Zsuzsanna Jakab of the World Health Organisation and Guido Rasi of the European Medicines Agency attended the first day of debate about security of supply, while Volker Amelung of the Hanover Medicine High School attended the debate on online health. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)