EUCOPE’s Market Access Working Group meets in Brussels

The autumn meeting of EUCOPE’s Market Access Working Group took up recent biopharma developments at the European level, focusing on topics related to approval and market entry. Participants discussed the developments in off-label use in France, pointing out that the wide scope of the original rules allowing off-label use for economic purposes had now been narrowed. They also examined the United Kingdom’s approach that entails organising parallel scientific advice with all national assessment bodies. The European Network of Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) is also working on this approach. A Belgian representative reported on the state of play as regards the Benelux countries’ implementation of a joint strategy to establish one set of negotiations covering reimbursement prices for orphan medicinal products in all three countries. He indicated that as Belgian law currently stood, it would be difficult to pursue this strategy successfully, adding that it was not clear how implementation could take place. Michael Kahnert from BIO Deutschland’s office in Berlin gave a report on the Pharma Dialogue. A Dutch representative explained the Netherlands’ priorities in the field of (bio)pharma for its presidency of the EU Council.