30 November 2020

Cancer societies and the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services officially launched the long-awaited European Fair Pricing Network (EFPN) on 30 November 2020.

Population aging and the rising number of cancer cases across Europe has led to a dramatic increase in health systems’ expenditure on cancer medicines. However, such an increase in expenditure on cancer therapies cannot be justified by the rising incidence of cancer alone. Lack of adequate access to both new and off-patent essential cancer medicines remains an issue – with high prices often cited as the main contributory factor. Overall prices of cancer medicines continue to rise, to the extent of impairing the capacity of health systems to provide affordable, population-wide access to cancer medicines.

In response, European cancer societies and research institutes decided to come together and found the European Fair Pricing Network (EFPN) – the first ever EU-wide collaborative network aiming to put an end to the escalating costs of cancer medicines.

Through research and advocacy, EFPN, aims to secure fairer prices of cancer medicines while upkeeping the innovation pipeline and timely access for to promising new medicines for patients. EFPN seeks to collect and analyse high quality data needed to measure (i) the availability of selected treatments across Europe; (ii) their price differences; (iii) the extent of public investment in their development; and (iv) the relationship between the price and the drug’s efficacy. EFPN partners will then translate research findings into concrete policy asks directed at both national and European decision-makers.

What makes the EFPN unique are its coordinated and interlinked research and patient advocacy efforts. EFPN aims to achieve fair prices for cancer medicines and works towards a sustainable pharmaceutical system which produces accessible, affordable and truly innovative medicines for patients. Hence, this initiative is in line with the priorities outlined in the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.