BIO Deutschland Attends EuropaBio Health Council Meeting

BIO Deutschland attended a meeting of the EuropaBio Health Council at the beginning of March. Nathalie Moll reported on the meeting with EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis. This meeting included discussion on personalised medicine, health technology assessment and improving EU legislation by closing legal loopholes, particularly in EU legislation on medicinal products.

The chairs of the sub-working groups reported on the activities in the committee during the past months.

The Advocacy Task Force is dealing with the endeavours by the EU authorities to establish a standardised EU health technology assessment procedure.

The Biosimilars Task Force is working on a survey of doctors to be rolled out in seven countries in order to gather information on to what extent biosimilars are actually prescribed. The idea is that this study will help the European Commission, which is currently evaluating the market penetration and potential of biosimilars in Europe. (Please see the report on the EuropaBIO National Associations Council meeting).

The Personalised Medicine Task Force is currently focusing on the revision of the EU Directive on In-vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices. It is currently drafting a white paper, which will examine the main points involved in this topic.

The Health Council will hold its next meeting in mid-June. The current chair, Emmanuel Chantelot, announced that he would no longer be able to serve as chair due to other commitments. As a result, talks will be held immediately with suitable successors. The plan is to introduce and elect a candidate during the general assembly in June.