Patient safety

eHealth week– pursuing better accessibility and expanded literacy

Hosted by the Danish presidency, the eHealth week 2012 is taking place during this week in Copenhagen. The three-days long (May 7 to 9) series of high-level conferences, seminars and workshops are run under the motto “Smart Health, Better Lives.” This years’ eHealth week focuses on enhancing the continuity of care and patient-centric health services by applying innovative eHealth solutions in two fronts: fostering cross-border healthcare; and managing chronic diseases to (...)

EMA reflection paper discusses globalisation of clinical trials

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has published the final reflection paper on ethical and good clinical practice aspects of clinical trials of medicinal products for human use. Conducted outside of the EU/EEA and submitted in marketing authorisation, it produced several applications to the EU regulatory authorities. Entering into force on 1 May 2012, the EMA reflection paper aims to strengthen existing processes to provide assurance to regulators and stakeholders that clinical trials (...)

eHealth Stakeholder Group (re)unites users and industry representatives

The first eHealth Stakeholder Group meeting took place on 29 March at the premises of the European Commission DG INFSO in Brussels. Discussions were led by Pēteris Zilgalvis (head of unit, ICT for health at DG INFSO) who provided an overview of relevant EU policy and research activities in eHealth. He went on to explain how eHealth is embedded into the Digital Agenda for Europe. Regarding the expressions of interest, the eHealth Stakeholder Group’s role will be to: Ensure an (...)

EPHA highlights advantages of EU engagement at German Dietitian Association annual congress

EPHA was invited to provide a welcome speech at the 54th annual national congress of the German Dietitian Association (VDD) in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony (Germany). On it, EPHA highlighted the benefits of networking at a national and European level, and the expertise that dietitians can bring to the policy table. VDD is a member of the European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians (EFAD), which in turn is a member of EPHA. In her opening speech, VDD President Doris Steinkamp called (...)

European Immunization Week stresses need for better understanding of vaccination

On April 25, EPHA attended the European Voice lecture "Understanding Vaccination: what we have and what we need" organised as a part of the European Immunization Week 2012. The event’s objective was to shed some light on the latest developments in vaccine science. Dr Béhazine Combadière, research director and expert in innovative vaccine design and immunology at the Sorbonne University, (Paris) structured her lecture into two parts. The first dealt with what we have the history of (...)

Message by Commissioner Dalli to honour Patients’ Rights Day

With the occassion of the 6th European Patients’ Rights Day (April 18), John Dalli, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, released a video message on the occasion. In his speech, Commissioner Dalli summarised some of the key issues and challenges related to patients’ rights in the EU, indicating that they were at the forefront of every policy impacting on health. Specifically, he stressed: the access to high quality, affordable and safe healthcare regardless (...)

EPHA Briefing on Antimicrobial Resistance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been described as one of the biggest threats to public health - a worrisome development since resistance to drugs designed to treat severe diseases is becoming more widespread. EPHA’s briefing describes the causes of AMR; evaluates what is being done at an EU and international level; and explores some of challenges faced today by public health. EPHA Briefing on AMR The increasing spread of AMR coupled with ineffective policies to counteract it, (...)

Healthy Ageing Partnership: From Plan to Action

On 3 April , EPHA attended the conference entitled ‘’The European Innovation Partnership: From Plan to Action’’ which followed the Commission Communication released on 29 February and presented the most coherent effort yet to find synergies between stakeholders in support of the EIP’s Strategic Implementation Plan. The Commission’s ‘’Invitation for Commitment’’ will remain open to stakeholders until 31 May 2012. The morning (...)

Antitrust: Commission closes AstraZeneca and Nycomed investigations

On 1 March 2012, the European Commission has ceased its investigation of the pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Nycomed. This research was based on a suspicion of individual or joint activity to delay the market entry of generic drugs. This activity would have been contrary to EU antitrust rules that prohibit restrictive business practices and the abuse of a dominant market position, as per Articles 101 and 102 of the Lisbon Treaty. The Commission has been investigating the (...)

2012 EMA PCWP Meetings & Stakeholders Forum

EPHA was amongst the participants of the first 2012 meeting of the European Medicines Agency’s Patients and Consumers Working Party (PCWP) on 28 February 2012, following the Fourth Stakeholders Forum on Pharmacovigilance on the previous day. PCWP Meeting The PCWP/Health Professionals Working Group joint meeting on 28 February covered various topics including communication and information (e.g., Q&A on biosimilar medicines; public webpage on the summary of product characteristics (...)