EGA Press Release
Thursday, 3 June 2010 - Rome
ONLY A SUSTAINABLE GENERIC MEDICINES INDUSTRY WILL MAXIMISE HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS BENEFITS
IN EUROPE
“Increasing generic medicines market penetration is the fastest way towards considerable and sustainable savings for healthcare systems in Europe”. This is the key message delivered by EGA President Didier Barret to delegates at the EGA’s Annual General Meeting in Rome on 3 and 4 June 2010.
A sustainable generic medicines industry must be based on 3 pillars: fair access to market, fair pricing and fair competition. In turn this will lead to the sustainability of healthcare systems, by increasing patient accessibility, through the affordability and availability of medicines, whilst promoting quality, fostering innovation and helping Member States to balance healthcare budgets.
As the backbone of one of the most competitive sectors in Europe, generic medicines bring savings of some €30bn per annum to the EU, make up over 50% of dispensed medicines, whilst accounting for only 18% of expenditure on pharmaceuticals. With health expenditure growing much faster than the EU27 average GDP, the emphasis on generic medicines sustainability is therefore set to increase. Moreover, the generic medicines industry is truly innovative, creating new oral, inhalation and patch release forms, as well as the all-important range of biosimilar medicinal products. The industry is also a significant contributor to employment sustainability and growth, with some 700 generic medicines companies in Europe providing jobs for 150,000 people.
The expiry of patents in the near future is also set to present even greater opportunities for European governments to balance healthcare expenditure through the increase of generic medicines volume share.
The number of molecules due to come off patent is set to peak in 2012, and the value of these expiries will reach an impressive US$12bn in 2013. Moreover, a high market potential has been identified for biosimilar medicines.
But this is not a time for complacency. There is evidence of insufficient effort to ban market entry hurdles and competition dysfunctions for generic medicines as identified in the final report of the pharmaceutical sector inquiry in July 2009. The changing market structure in many countries is leading to an increased focus on price, which promotes short-term gains, at the cost of mid and long-term losses.
“Focusing on the increase of generic medicines market penetration with the right competitive price is the best way to ensure fair competition, added-value for patients and healthcare systems financial balance”, says EGA President Didier Barret.
The EGA therefore calls for:
· the EU off-patent market to be based on the principle of headroom for competition
· the removal of hurdles to the immediate entry of generic medicines on patent expiry
· the introduction of mechanisms to stimulate competition from generic medicines
· the creation of a sustainable pricing & reimbursement system for long-term competition, enabling short, mid and long-term savings
For further information contact Julie Chauvet
E-mail:
|
