Think about a future the place our kids and grandchildren in Europe don’t worry diabetes, most cancers or Alzheimer’s illness. The place these illnesses will be handled in a manner meaning folks residing with them expertise life like others — or the place the illnesses are prevented within the first place.
This may seem to be a dreamer’s world. However once you consider the achievements in drugs that we take without any consideration each day — vaccinations that forestall lethal childhood sicknesses, and medicines that cut back the danger of a coronary heart assault for tens of millions of individuals — maybe the dream isn’t up to now off.
The corporate I lead, Novo Nordisk, based 100 years in the past, was the producer of the primary era of insulin in Europe, giving individuals who have been unsure whether or not they may dwell past the following few months hope about their futures. However the innovation didn’t cease there. Innovation by generations signifies that right this moment, folks residing with sort 1 diabetes don’t have to restrict their goals. We’re proud to be sponsors of Workforce Novo Nordisk, an expert biking workforce and group of different elite athletes who all dwell with sort 1 diabetes — an aspiration which might have appeared past creativeness earlier than medical innovation.
In the present day, Europe is going through new challenges, in well being care and past. Most well being care methods try to deal with the challenges of growing older populations and a rise in persistent illnesses, alongside funds constraints and a depleted well being workforce that’s nonetheless reeling from the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reasonably than idle dreaming, that is our stark actuality: medical innovation is required if we’re to deal with the challenges we face. It’s important for decreasing the burden of illness, which can cut back the burden on well being care methods and the well being workforce. Medical improvements can help sufferers to reclaim their lives and the lives of their households, to be part of society and the workforce, positively impacting their lives and Europe as an entire.
The pharmaceutical trade affiliation EFPIA has set out commitments to enhance entry to medicines throughout the European Union. Nevertheless, entry to medicines is a nationwide competence and plenty of EU member nations have necessities that make it tough for firms to enter the market in a well timed method. We should work with all of the related stakeholders to unravel this problem.
In the meantime, the EU legislative framework for medicines is present process its largest revision in a long time. If we would like our kids to be first in line for future medical improvements, we have to present political will right this moment.
We share the aspiration with sufferers and policymakers to have a regulatory framework that’s match for the long run, and medicines which are extra quickly accessible to the sufferers who want them throughout Europe. This aspiration can even assist to strengthen a strategic industrial sector in Europe. However most of the proposals, mentioned extensively elsewhere, run counter to those shared aspirations.
Whereas right this moment there’s actual energy in Europe’s pharmaceutical trade, we can’t take that without any consideration in a altering international context. Prior to now 20 years alone, international pharmaceutical analysis and growth happening in Europe has declined from 41 % to 31 %. In superior applied sciences similar to cell and gene therapies, the U.S. and China are attracting far better ranges of funding. The place innovation occurs issues.
In the present day within the EU, there are numerous completely different coverage frameworks for occupied with what kind of pharmaceutical sector Europe wants: from open strategic autonomy to important applied sciences; from long-term financial competitiveness to the safety of provide of important medicines. What is obvious in all instances is that the pharmaceutical sector is a strategic sector for Europe and so, medicines shouldn’t be seen in isolation in several coverage areas, however addressed holistically. As the present president of EFPIA, I name on all policymakers to help an built-in technique for our sector that may help a extra aggressive, more healthy and stronger Europe.
Within the brief time period, the MEPs and nationwide governments at the moment engaged on the Normal Pharmaceutical Laws have to think about the long run they need for Europe, and the position that medical innovation ought to play inside it. Whether it is to play a central position, insurance policies need to be bold and coherent. If we will get this proper, collectively, future generations of Europeans will be happy with what we’ve performed.