Member States have once again crossed swords on EU pharmaceutical policy. At the Health Council on Monday 9 December, the large Member States, who are able to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, and the smaller ones, who have more difficulty in having their interests respected, presented different views on the need to work together.
Not surprisingly, a large majority of States have indicated that they are more frequently facing shortages of increasingly expensive medicines, as summarised in a Finnish document (see EUROPE 12378/10).
However, Germany and Poland, in particular, called for respect of the principle of subsidiarity. "My impression is that if we talk about availability, accessibility and affordability at the same time, we are stuck, because the last two are linked to national competences", commented the German delegation, proposing to limit the discussion to "targeted measures" on medicine availability.
An EU Council work agenda?
However, the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU has promised to examine the Dutch proposal to set up an "inclusive EU Council working agenda for the 2020-2024 period". "This agenda would cover equal access, shortages and affordable medicines. It would be used in particular to develop priorities, actions and timetables," the Dutch representative explained earlier. Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Lithuania had supported this proposal. "We cannot formally decide here, but I look forward to the next steps in this area," said Helsinki.
Other ideas tabled include the one advocated by Belgium to introduce a minimal period of commercialisation to ensure access to old medicines, that of Sweden to offer certain medicines in its stock, or that of the Czech Republic to establish a central database that should make it possible to identify registered medicines, stock levels, etc.
For her part, the new Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, promised to come back with concrete proposals by the "end of 2020". (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)