The Pharmaceutical Forum was jointly established by Vice President Verheugen and Commissioner Kyprianou (DG Enterprise and DG Health and Consumer Protection) in June 2005 to examine the competitiveness of the European-based pharmaceutical industry and related public health issues. The Pharmaceutical Forum was entrusted to follow up the issues outstanding from the G10 Medicines process. The Forum is due to meet two more times, once in June 2007 and once in 2008.
2001: the G10
Created by the European Commission in 2001 this "high-level group on innovation and provision of medicines" was made up of 13 members amongst which only one was a patients representative. The conclusions of this working group consequently were a compilation of the industry priorities.
Later on, the G10 conclusions, as coming from a legitimate working group created by the Commission, served as a justification for the draft Directive on human medicines submitted to the European Parliament in 2001. The proposal -rejected with an overwhelming no of a 70% of the MEPs- aimed at removing the current ban on direct to consumers advertisement. The ban is contained in the article 88 of the Directive 2001/83/EC which says: "Member States shall prohibit the advertising to the general public of medicinal products which are available on medical prescription only."
If the Directive would have been modified, then the pharmaceutical industry would be free to promote and advertise their products with no restrictions.
At the moment only two countries (U.S. and New Zealand) allow direct to consumers advertisement (DTCA), which has led to a great increase in the pharmaceutical industry spending to promote their products. However, it has been undoubtedly profitable for them since the most publicised medicines have become a blockbuster.
2006: the Pharmaceutical Forum
In September 2006, the European Commission replaced the G10 by a "high level political platform" called the Pharmaceutical Forum. According to the Commission website "it is designed to provide a political mandate and momentum for the process and a platform for discussion on competitiveness and related public health issues."
The Forum is chaired jointly by Vice-President Verheugen and Commissioner Kyprianou and includes Member States ministers, representatives of the European Parliament, representatives of 5 European Pharmaceutical federations, and representatives of healthcare professionals, patients, and health insurers. These are the names of the Forum stakeholders members listed in the European Commission web:
European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations
European Generic medicines Association
European Self-Medication Industry
European Association for Bioindustries (EuropaBio)
European Association of Full-Line Wholesalers
European Patients Forum
Standing Committee of European Doctors
Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (community pharmacists)
Association Internationale de la Mutualité
European Social Insurance Platform.
However, more stakeholders participate in the three working groups. The full list of participants in the Pharmaceutical Forum has never been made public, nor have the selection criteria nor the forum working methods, which contradicts the own European Commission Transparency initiative.
In addition, the only representative of the patients interests, the European Patients Forum, has been hardly criticised because of its lack of transparency and close links to the pharmaceutical industry. For more information, see the attached press release published in July 2007 "EU Pharmaceutical Forum: public health is not its overriding priority."
The working groups
Three working groups were created to organise the Forum issues:
Working Group on Information to Patients.
Working Group on Relative Effectiveness.
It is worth noting that the list of members is not available online nor is the mandate of the working groups or the documents produced by the working groups. Minutes of the meetings are available with a 6-month delay, on average.
The working group with the most interest is the one working on information to patients. More specifically, they are to develop a case study on information to patients on diabetes. This case study is opened to public consultation until 04 May 2007.
Related links:
Pharmaceutical Forum Conclusions
Pharmaceutical Forum: delivering better information, better access and better prices
