Further to our Joint Letter of 16 September 2014 (1) , we are contacting you again to express our gratitude for your decision (2) to move the competence for medicines and pharmaceutical products back into the hands of the European Commissioner for Health. We firmly believe that this directorate is best placed to ensure a good balance between economic and public health objectives while promoting ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive’ growth for Europe.
28 October 2014, Brussels
To: Jean-Claude Juncker, President-elect of the European Commission
CC: Ladislav Miko, Acting Director General of DG SANCO
Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director-General of DG Enterprise and Industry
Ministers of Health of the European Union Member States
Members of the IMCO, ITRE, and ENVI Committee
Dear President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker,
While welcoming your decision on medicines and pharmaceutical products, your statement to the European Parliament (3) was nonetheless vague and lacked clarity, which is of concern to us and leaves us with the following question .. Are we to understand that the portfolios for medical devices and health technologies will not remain with the Health Commissioner?
As explained in our previous letter, it is of equal importance that these portfolios also remain the sole responsibility of the Health Commissioner. As the PIP scandal over faulty breast implants and other controversies about defective medical devices have demonstrated, it is crucial to ensure that patients are supplied with high quality and safe medical devices and health technologies; the primary function of which is to provide people with a better quality of life (4) . We would like to reiterate that ownership of this portfolio matters just as much as that for medicines and pharmaceutical products because patient safety must never be undermined by industry interests. Indeed, we would like to reiterate that – just like pharmaceutical products – medical devices and health technologies are not like any other good.
As representatives of a concerned public health community, we would first of all like to request a public clarification of your position on the status of medical devices and health technologies within the new Commission structure. We would also like to urge you, again, to take into consideration the safety and security of European patients in your final decision by placing the competence for regulating medical devices and health technologies back with the health directorate.
Yours sincerely
Peggy Maguire – EPHA President
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Signatories, in alphabetic order <img7253|center>
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1. Open Letter] [To President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker on move of medicinal products and health technologies to the portfolio of the Commissioner for internal market and industry.
3. President-elect Juncker’s Main Messages from his speech before the European Parliament.
