Euro Commission view on pharma industry, legislation and access

Given that 2001 is the year that the European Commission is obliged toreview the European Union's legal framework for medicines, "this is the pharmaceutical year," Paul Weissenberg, director for the single market management and legislation for consumer products, Directorate General Enterprise at the EC, told the 37th annual meeting of the Association of the European Self-Medication Industry, held earlier this month in Rome, Italy. It is also an "opportunity to look at issues which are beyond legal obligations," he added.

However, Dr Weissenberg pointed out, since up to five years are needed to implement European laws effectively, "we should have the ambition to draft legislation which is still valid in 2010," a time when there will be 25-27 European Union member states and "we will have a European constitution."

A new intergovernmental conference has been convened for 2004, the objective of which is to draw a clear borderline as to what should be left to member states and which policies merit and need to be truly European, he said. Member states have a responsibility for health care and also to foster competition, he noted, adding that, over the past five years, Europe has seen a relative decline in competitiveness. This, he noted, has been highlighted by several reports in recent years, all of which have indicated that, while the EU remains the major world producer of pharmaceuticals, the USA has overtaken it in terms of innovation.