European Commission Launches Public Consultation on Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe
- 17/06/2020
- Articles
The European Commission (the Commission) launched on 16 June 2020 a public consultation on its Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe (the PSE) which will run until 15 September 2020 (see, attached press release and questionnaire). The consultation targets a broad audience of patient associations, industry, public authorities, academia and the general public for views on issues of access to medicines; availability and affordability of medicines; European autonomy and production of medicines; innovation; and environmental sustainability.
The questionnaire raises important and at times controversial issues in probing for
- the reasons for medicine shortages;
- the possible need for a link between an EU-wide marketing authorisation and the requirement to make the medicine available throughout the EU;
- justifications for medicine prices;
- actions supportive of R&D of innovative medicines and cures for unmet medical needs;
- risks and opportunities of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and use of real world data.
The Commission had already started another consultation on the Roadmap for the PSE which will be open until 7 July 2020 (see, Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences News Alert of 3 June 2020). The Roadmap defines the steps which the Commission will take prior to adopting the PSE and the data which it will assemble to inform its PSE.
