This is a continuation of the then “G10”, a working group that had worked on recommendations to boost the competitiveness of the European pharmaceutical industry. It became clear from the discussions of this group of 10 stakeholders that three topics deserved further development: pricing of medicines, relative effectiveness of medicines and patient information.

They are now the subject of three working groups which meet four times a year, under the auspices of the 2 directorates general. In addition, a steering committee supports the work of the three working groups.

The entire Pharmaceutical Forum met on 28 September, 2006.

It is interesting to note that the home page of the Pharmaceutical Forum website , presents its aim as “to enhance the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical industry in terms of its contribution to social and public health objectives”.

The Forum brings together representatives of Ministers from all European Union Member States, the European Parliament, patients, the pharmaceutical industry, health care professionals, and insurance funds. The pharmaceutical sector is represented by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EPFIA) and the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU)

The EAHP Executive Director met with Mr. James Copping, policy officer and the person in charge of the forum in DG Enterprise, to talk about membership of this forum, agendas of the working groups and expected outcomes of the project, as the information is missing on the Pharmaceutical Forum web pages.

Mr. Copping was unable to provide EAHP with the agenda of the groups, work plans and minutes of their meetings and names of attendants. The minutes of the meetings should shortly be posted on the website of DG ENTRE but the names of the participants will not be made public. When questioned about criteria of membership of the forum, Copping informed us that there were no criteria, the stakeholders present at the G10 were automatically made members of the Forum, but the other participants were invited to join based on the relations they have with the 2 DGs. To quote Mr. Copping, membership is arbitrary.

“Pricing of medicines” and “relative effectiveness” are matters that are not of EU competency, only Member States can regulate them. Copping explained that the Forum’s aim was to facilitate exchange of best practices on these matters and that no particular outcome was expected.

“Patient information” is a highly political subject, which relates to the debates over informing versus advertising, the role of all stakeholders (including the pharmaceutical industry) involved in sharing information and the involvement of the media in providing quality, up-to-date and accurate information. The working group dedicated to this subject is due to hand a report to the European Parliament in April 2007, with recommendations on how to proceed with delivering the best and most suitable information to patients.

The EAHP regrets not having access to the discussions that are taking place within the Forum and the lack of transparency of the project. Despite the explanations given by James Copping, it is felt that the Commission is not respecting its commitment of transparency and that no-one is able to weigh the influence of one stakeholder (outside of the EU Member States) over another.

Pharmaceutical Forum web pages