EAHP EU Monitor - 20th July 2012

The 6 month Cypriot Presidency of the Council of Ministers has outlined 7 health policy priorities including Clinical Trials, Pharmacovigilance and Medical Device regulation

A newly published web page of the Cyprus Presidency lists 7 priorities for health:

1. Healthy ageing across the lifecycle

2. A legislative proposal on serious cross border threats to health

3. Organ donation and transplantation

4. Pharmacovigilance

5. Clinical Trials

6. Transparency of measures regulating the pricing of medicinal products for human use

7. Medical Device regulation

On health ageing the Cyprus Presidency will “further develop work in the area of healthy ageing by collecting evidence and highlighting best practices which prove that Healthy Ageing is a matter of continuous process that requires the implementation of health promotion and disease prevention programmes. In this effort, key elements will be, among others, the multidisciplinary approaches involving both individuals and their community, and their application throughout the lifecycle, from early stages of life until the late years.”

On Cross Border health threats, the Cyprus Presidency will advance National Government’s discussions on the Commission’s December 2011 legislative proposal on the subject, and promote “the regional dimension of health security and capacity building”.

On Organ Donation and Transplantation, the Cyprus Presidency will highlight the need for coordinated member state activity to address the shortage of human organs intended for transplantation and aim to move forward “the establishment of coordination and cooperation mechanism among member states”.

On Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Trials, the Presidency will respectively help to oversee the implementation of the 2010 Pharmacovigilance Directive, and the beginning of Member State scrutiny of the Commission’s July 2012 proposals for reform of Clinical Trial governance.

On transparency of medicines reimbursement, the Cyprus Presidency will continue the work of the Danish Presidency in replacing the 1989 Directive on this subject with the aim of further increasing transparency of decisions made by Member States on reimbursement.

Finally, in relation to Medical Devices, the Presidency will initiate Member State level discussions on a forthcoming proposal from the Commission for reform of regulation in relation to Devices, including in areas of assessment and traceability

More information here