Pharma Forum sees progress

At its Plenary meeting held in Brussels, Belgium, the High Level Pharmaceutical Forum acknowledged that work undertaken by the three working groups on Relative Effectiveness, Pricing and Reimbursement and Information to Patients. There was widespread recognition of the challenges each one was facing, but the Forum agreed that there had been some progress in all three.

With respect to Pricing and Reimbursement, the Forum welcomed the shared understanding of the need to ensure: timely and equitable access to pharmaceuticals for patients all over Europe; control drug expenditure for European Union member sates; and reward valuable innovation within a competitive and dynamic market that also encourages R&D. However, the so-called "toolbox principles" agreed by the working group "are meant to offer guidance and facilitate the sharing of information and assessments. They are not binding rules," the Forum concluded. It also endorsed the principle of free pricing for non-reimbursed medicines, already recommended by the G10 Medicines Group.