Revue Prescrire, article en une, Medicines in Europe: Appeal to EU Ministers March 2003 (3)

Medicines in Europe:
Appeal to EU Ministers: don't forget the fundamentals!

The working party preparing the decisive meeting of the Council of Ministers on 2-3 June 2003 is meeting regularly and productively, but several key matters concerning public health have not yet been taken into account.

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Areas in which the draft Regulation remains to be improved, as of 4 February 2003
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Medicines in Europe: campaigning goes on!
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Composition of the management board: civil society must be represented

In the current version of article 58-1 of the Regulation, five members of the management board will represent civil society. The pharmaceutical industry would have two members, while patients, health professionals, and health care insurers would have only one member each. It is noteworthy that one Member State considers that health care insurers should not be represented at all.

The Medicines in Europe Forum notes that health and welfare were among the main stated objectives of the Greek Presidency, and feels that the time has come for fair representation of the different players on the EMEA management board, including one representative of health care insurers (list in article 58-1), and only one representative of the pharmaceutical industry.

The Forum also notes that the current draft Regulation calls for the creation of a new EMEA Advisory Board, which is only briefly and vaguely defined in recital 17, and is solely composed, according to article 59, of national representatives. It would be unreasonable to adopt such vague proposals on a European agency handling matters as sensitive as medicinal products. The Forum requests clarification on this point.




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