29/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The second High Level Pharmaceutical Forum meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 26 June was attended by EU Commissioners Markos Kyprianou and Gunter Verheugen. The new President of EFPIA and CEO of Bayer Healthcare AG, Arthur J. Higgins, said 'The Forum has not met our expectations to date, as it hasn't addressed its core objective, but has instead become another discussion platform on the cost of medicines, rather than their value and contribution to the health and wealth of Europe… The time has come for clear-cut decision and concrete action if Europe wants to make a comeback as world leader in pharmaceutical innovation.' On behalf of the industry, Higgins called for EU guidelines on the reimbursement of medicines; swift implementation of Recommendation 6 of the G10 restricting price controls to the territory of the member state concerned; greater transparency and common rules for assessing the effectiveness of medicines; and the introduction of an EU framework for providing patients with information about medicines. (oj)