On 15 July 2015 EPHA and Wemos hosted an event in the Members’ Salon at the European Parliament to highlight the issue of added therapeutic value (ATV) in medicines.
Several studies carried out at EU member state level indicate that the majority of medicines authorised for use have little-to-no ATV in comparison with existing treatments. This means that public money is being spent on new, costly medicines which have limited ATV, whilst also using up resources which might otherwise be used for the development of urgently needed drugs and improvements in available treatments.
The European Parliament recently commissioned a study on the possibility of harmonising national approaches to ATV and found that considerable scope for a European assessment framework exists. The lunch event, organised by Wemos and supported by a cross-party group of MEPs, offered a chance for health advocates, policy-makers, industry and regulators to discuss the importance of ATV, how it can be measured and what role a European framework might play. Presentations were given by:
- Dick Bijl, Geneesmiddelenbulletin, Dutch Drug Bulletin
- Luciana Ballini, EUnetHTA
- Andrea Rappagliosi, EFPIA
- Menno Arnout, AIM
- Joerg Schaaber, BUKO Pharma-Kampagne and ISDB
- Annelies den Boer, Wemos
- Katrina Perehudiff, BEUC
- Tapani Piha, European Commission
The presentations are available here. They highlight the proportion of newly approved drugs which have low ATV and thus do not represent a genuine innovation in treatment, yet are commonly more expensive for health systems to provide and put a strain on sustainability. The presentations stress the need for rational pharmacotherapy – prescribing efficacious and cost-effective drugs at the right time and in the right dose – and the transparent publication of clinical trials data to inform procurement, reimbursement, prescribing and consumption. The potential role of HTA (and the EUnetHTA project) is also explored, as well as the importance of coherent alignment of national HTA processes.
The position paper, supported by Wemos, EPHA, SOMO and ISDB, is available here.
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