The meeting, entitled ‘Health policy in the European Union – directions, challenges, opportunities’, was moderated by Cezary Szymanek, deputy editor-in-chief of Rzeczpospolita, and Dominika Pietrzyk, editor-in-chief of the website zdrowie.rp.pl.

Adam Jarubas, MEP and Chairperson of the Commission on Public Health of the European Parliament, recalled that the recently concluded Polish Presidency ‘pressed for an increased role of health policy in the EU’.

He added that the current Danish Presidency indicates that by the end of the year it will be possible to ‘bring two issues to a close’ – the Pharmaceutical Package and the Critical Medicines Act (CMA).

The Pharmaceutical Package is the biggest reform of EU pharmaceutical law since 2004, with the objective of increasing the availability of medicines and strengthening the competitiveness of the EU pharmaceutical industry.

On the other hand, the changes to the law related to the Critical Medicines Act (CMA) are intended to ensure the availability and stability of supplies of critical medicines within the European Union.

Learn from crises

According to Jarubas, the establishment of the Public Health Commission and the Security and Defence Commission in the European Parliament is another sign of the changes in the EU's approach.

He recalled that the European Commission had also announced the presentation of a European act on biotechnology, which could form the basis for the fight against rare diseases. Jarubas also mentioned the following key issues on the European agenda: the European Health Data Space (EHDS), the creation of which could improve scientific research, and health strategies concerning, for example, obesity, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases and mental health.

‘It is crucial to prepare the EU for various crises’, emphasised the chairperson of the health commission.

‘Patients do not have time. There are still countries in the EU where diagnostics are at a terrible level and patients do not have access to appropriate therapies. We are therefore concerned about the speed of implementation of important legal acts. It is important to have specific strategies for fighting cancer and to act faster’, said Wiktor Janicki, president of AstraZeneca Polska.

Jarubas pointed out that ‘unfortunately, 20% of the future budget will be allocated to repaying the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which includes, for example, the National Recovery Plan’, and countries with strained budgets may have difficulties supporting the healthcare sector in view of the announced return of drug production to Europe.

We get the impression that everyone looks at us, the manufacturers, as those responsible for the security of medicine supply of Poland and Europe. However, it is the Polish government that is responsible for securing Poland's medicine supply. ‘We are, one might say, whistleblowers pointing out that we are in a dangerous situation we produce medicines, but often they are not on the list of critical medicines’, said Barbara Misiewicz-Jagielak, Director of External Relations at Polpharma.

‘People who think we have time are wring – there is no security without the security of medicine supply’, added Misiewicz-Jagielak.

‘I am a bit surprised that the EU puts financing issues on the back burner when preparing its strategies. It is necessary to find funds to finance ambitious initiatives. Just look at demographic trends – if the health budget is not secured for the next seven years, it may be too late afterwards’, said Iwona Pająk, Director of Public Affairs at Novartis.

Prepare for the future

‘You can never be sufficiently prepared for crises, but the fact that we started looking for vaccines and other measures with a structure and procedure in place is an important step. The EU has achieved a lot in terms of Member States' competences, and in this era, the priority needs to be a closer partnership between civilian and military sectors. The creation of the Defence and Health Commission proves the importance of these issues’, said Bartłomiej Kurcz from the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority.

‘Priorities regarding threats have been set, and we shall work on countermeasures. This will be described at the EU level for the first time’, noted Kurcz.

He added that there are challenges regarding critical medicines, and the health architecture is not yet formed.

‘We are open to showing what is important from our perspective. We have reports on competitiveness, but also on civil and military resilience’, noted Krzysztof Kopeć, president of the Polish Association of Pharmaceutical Industry Employers – Domestic Drug Manufacturers.

Justin Gandy, managing director of MSD Poland, noted that Europe is reactive and needs to shift to a proactive approach.

‘Indeed, patients do not have time. And this is the moment for the EU to unite in developing innovation and securing itself by looking, for example, at what China is doing’, emphasised Gandy.

‘There will likely be more crises, and we should become aware of the possible consequences of a situation in which, for example, China stops supplying medicines. And there are more and more crises that cannot be solved by individual countries acting alone. It is necessary to work together', Jarubas concluded.

The head of AstraZeneca Poland assessed that ‘today, the EU is behind also when it comes to clinical research’, while Ireneusz Staroń, Deputy President of the Medical Research Agency, emphasised their importance, especially in the context of innovation.

—czu