9 December 2021
Existing cross-border collaborations have shown that pooling resources can facilitate access to new medicines for patients at a fairer price. At the same time, the potential of the EU Joint Procurement Agreement reaches beyond vaccines and treatments for communicable cross-border health threats. Cancer leagues call on national governments to systematically consider cross-border collaborations for the sake of patients and national health budgets.
By Dr. Ward Rommel, Chair, Access to Medicines Task Force, Association of European Cancer Leagues
New high-priced cancer medicines with limited evidence of their added value compared to existing alternatives have been launched in various European markets in recent years. High prices are a major barrier to accessing medicines for patients and a threat to health systems, even in some of the richest countries in Europe and the world.
The increasing calls from cancer leagues, NGOs, payers and other stakeholders to make cancer medicine prices fairer require urgent action to guarantee patient access to drugs with proven patient benefits.
The information and power asymmetry between the multinational pharmaceutical industry as the vendor and national governments as buyers is assumed to contribute to unsustainable drug budgets and difficulties with thoroughly assessing the proven clinical benefit of new drugs.
