EU Options for Improving Access to Medicines

This document summarises the presentations and discussions of the workshop on access to medicines, held at the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday 14 July 2016. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the latest trends and the current situation as regards the availability of affordable medicines in Europe, to present a range of EU initiatives, and to raise awareness on prices, accessibility, acceptability, affordability and availability of medicines in the EU. During the first part of the workshop, the current situation on access to medicines was analysed by different stakeholder groups. The second part of the workshop analysed pharmaceutical systems in the EU, covering topics such as intellectual property, pricing and reimbursement systems, and competition enforcement laws. The third part of the workshop concerned authorisation procedures and systems for pricing and reimbursement. Here, an overview of the role of the EMA, the benefits of health technology assessment and improving affordability were presented. Proposals to improve access to medicines were discussed in the final workshop session. This workshop and the respective document were prepared by the Policy Department A at the request of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.