Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-22-Speech-2-026"
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"en.20021022.1.2-026"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the pharmaceutical industry is doing well, boasting high profits over a long period of time. Health budgets, on the other hand, are not in such good shape, unfortunately. Spending on medicines is increasing in most Member States. The development of medicines is not going well either. There is little real innovation in Europe and, what is worse, the development of medicines to fight the worldwide health crisis, is seriously lagging behind. Although this is a wholly unsatisfactory situation, we can use the review of pharmaceutical legislation to take steps in the right direction.
We should first of all adopt a sound price policy. The price of medicines is determined at national level, and currently differs widely across the various European Member States. For new medicines, the Commission should lay down a guideline on the basis of the development costs involved. Many countries would like to cut down on public health spending by raising the patients' own contributions for medicines. This is unacceptable. Savings should, in fact, be sought in joint and improved negotiations with the industry instead of by increasing patients' own contributions.
Secondly, legislation should not hamper, but rather promote, innovation. Industry wants to do this by extending the data protection period, but this is no guarantee for innovation. Quite the opposite, in fact; there is more innovation happening in the United States, which has a shorter period of protection. We must stimulate innovation by emphasising the therapeutic value-added and, above all, by displaying public leadership and by raising questions in the area of research ourselves. Agreements can be reached about the research agenda during the price negotiations. Good prices in exchange for investments in medicines for which there is a worldwide need are a step in the right direction.
Thirdly, we must put provisions in place which enable the production of generic versions of essential medicines that are still patented but that are unaffordable in developing countries. This should only apply to medicines for countries that do not yet have the production capacity available themselves. Major steps were taken in Doha to make medicines more affordable in developing countries. All that remains for us to do is to make a small, yet important, step.
Finally, we must single-mindedly uphold the ban on advertising medicines. Providing direct information or advertising that is aimed at patients is not the right way forward. The pharmaceutical industry is already spending huge amounts of money on marketing. Even more marketing will hike up the price of medicines unnecessarily. At least as important is the argument that we must prevent the industry from talking healthy people into illnesses. There are other ways of ensuring that good information is available to patients.
I should like to finish off with a word of thanks to Mrs Grossetête and, above all, Mrs Müller for all her intricate work. All her efforts to make medicines more suitable for children and women receive my wholehearted support, as does her plea for a European approach, for which I should also like to express thanks."@en1
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