BioWorld International Correspondent

BRUSSELS, Belgium - "A reward for innovation within a competitive and dynamic market that also encourages research and development" is what European health and industry ministers agreed on as a goal in Brussels, Belgium, on Sept. 29. That was one of the conclusions of the first meeting at ministerial level of the so-called European Pharmaceutical Forum, set up to help ensure an adequate flow of innovative European medicines in the future.

The forum has been set up to help reverse the erosion of the European pharmaceutical industry's international competitiveness. "It is a major contributor to Europe's science base and employment. However, it is facing a number of serious challenges and is losing ground vis- -vis its global competitors," the European Commission said as the first meeting of the forum closed. An expert working group has been set up to ease the problems industry faces on national pricing and reimbursement controls in Europe.

The reflection also involves patients, industry, health professionals and health insurance funds, and the agenda extends to information to patients, access to medicines and getting the best value for money out of health care spending. But Brendan Barnes, of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, said that "the question of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement is the key issue." He predicted that "it is unlikely that the forum can achieve its wider objectives unless it makes progress on this."

One of the first hurdles to overcome, he indicated, was achieving a clearer understanding at a European level of the value of innovation. And, he added, "Just exchanging information will not be enough. It must follow through to effective action by member state authorities."

Andrea Rappagliosi, of Serono SA, and chairman of the EuropaBio Healthcare Council, urged that timely access should be given to innovative medicines: "Not only is the future of more than 2,000 young European small and medium life science companies at risk, but also the future development of their research projects that specifically address health care benefit to patients," he said.

Emile Loof, president of the European Generic medicines Association, insisted on the need to eliminate the hurdles faced by generics when trying to enter European markets, the most significant being "unreasonable time delays for obtaining pricing and reimbursement decisions for approved generic products, and the increasing complexity of regulatory requirements."

European Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen, who is responsible for industry policy and one of the sponsors of the forum, said, "Europe is no longer the pharmacy of the world. We need to look urgently at the structural issues affecting the competitiveness of the industry and respond to these challenges. The purpose of the pharmaceutical forum is to push forward to deliver concrete results by June next year."

EU Poll Shows Ignorance About AIDS

A high degree of ignorance about HIV/AIDS persists in Europe, and sharp differences in national attitudes, according to a European Union survey released Oct. 2. The poll of 25,000 respondents found widespread misunderstandings about transmission, and divergent views on treatment. Ignorance and low levels of precautionary behavior are particularly evident in some of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that joined the EU in 2004.

More than two-thirds of European citizens believe treatment and health care available for HIV/AIDS are effective in their country, there is wide support for treatments to delay the onset of AIDS when a person is HIV-positive, and confidence in the effectiveness of research funding to discover an AIDS vaccine - but not in the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia.

Overall, Europeans want the EU to play a greater role in finding an AIDS vaccine. European Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou admitted he was worried by the findings: "More needs to be done, in particular to inform the citizens of new EU member states, where the epidemic is still strong, and which border with countries where the epidemic is on the rise," he said.