The new legislation on critical medicinal products was generally welcomed by MEPs during a debate on Tuesday 11 March in Strasbourg, although some deplored the absence of rules on stockpiling to avoid shortages (see other news).
Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatian) welcomed the measures aimed at speeding up administrative procedures, providing better funding for strategic projects and planning joint invitations to tender for better supply. He welcomed the provisions for production on European soil, but felt that the problem of stockpiling needed to be addressed (large countries do not share medicines with smaller countries).
“We need an incentive policy to encourage the production of medicines in Europe, but we don’t need a text for the pharmaceutical industry, we need a text for citizens”, said Christophe Clergeau (S&D, French). He advocated “conditionalities on public procurement” and measures to encourage collective procurement or purchasing on a European scale. “The most important thing for Socialists is to guarantee access to medicines for everyone in Europe”, he concluded.
Ondřej Knotek (PfE, Czech) was positive about the proposed text, but called for production of certain medicines to be brought back to Europe. He stressed the need to attract private investment to Europe.
Ruggero Razza (ECR, Italian) stressed the need to make the production of medicines, particularly generics, “competitive and feasible, also in Europe. We’re optimistic, because it’s also a question of sovereignty”.
The proposed legislation should make it possible to strengthen Europe’s strategic independence through coordinated production and procurement, noted Vlad Voiculescu (Renew Europe, Romanian). He regretted the lack of an adequate budget and of penalties for non-compliance with the rules.
“All my fears have come true”, said Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA, Luxembourgish). In her opinion, what is on offer does not meet expectations. She would have liked to see provisions on the creation of stocks of critical medicinal products or on a European public infrastructure for medicines. Catarina Martins (The Left, Portuguese) called for new rules on public investment and deplored the lack of investment in the European health budget.
Laurent Castillo (EPP, French) felt that the text was a step in the right direction, providing for “direct budgetary aid conditional on supply to the European market, new rules on public procurement so that price is no longer the only selection variable, and incentives for collective purchasing”. He regretted the absence of a “pre-purchase mechanism for innovative medicines still being researched in Europe” and of measures to establish a “European stock of medicinal products for hospital pharmacies”.
Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Health, hoped that an agreement on the reform of the pharmaceutical package would be reached soon, so that the two texts could “go hand in hand” to ensure security of supply.
Link to the proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/fv1 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)