EBA's heath care committee holds drug policy seminar with Ukraine

The health care committee of the European Business Association has organized a seminar alongside the EU-Ukraine summit on the theme: European Experience from Health Care Sector - Challenges and Solutions for Ukraine, which discussed, among other health care issues, various aspects of drug policy.

The October 26th seminar was hosted by the Finnish government in Helsinki, on the basis that Finland holds the rotating European Union presidency. Delegations from the Ukraine and the host country held three sessions, the last of which was about experiences of marketing authorization for generic drugs. The seminar's EU representatives stressed the importance to the Ukraine of information from the Pharmaceutical Pricing Board on "reasonable pricing" and the approval structure of reimbursible drugs according to different insurance systems.

A separate meeting was organized with Viktor Chumak, the Ukraine's Director of the State Pharmacological Center, and representatives of Finland's National Agency for Medicines to discuss market entry of drugs, planning drug services and consumer protection. Finland's experiences with the EU's data exclusivity mechanism were also discussed.