EU Single Market Round Table: The Recomendations

For the foreseeable future, member states will predominate as the majorhealth care payers in the European Union, and thus continue to be responsible for agreeing prices with suppliers, says one of two working parties set up to make recommendations on completing the EU single pharmaceuticals market.

The working groups presented their recommendations, which form the basis of an EU discussion document, at the second Frankfurt Round Table meeting, chaired by European Industry Commissioner Martin Bangemann (Marketletter December 15). The groups' members were drawn from industry, member states' competent authorities and the European Commission.

This conclusion comes from Working Party I, whose remit was to discuss the differing perceptions of the EU drug market's current state of development, including options for its longer-term evolution and possible transitional pathways, leading to higher levels of competition, lower levels of government regulation and improved attractiveness for industrial development. It also concluded that: