by Peter O'Donnell
BRUSSELS, Dec 15 (APM) - The trend towards closer scrutiny of drug prices in Europe is set to continue for at least the next six months, as Malta takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union.
In January the current Slovak presidency will hand over to Malta, giving the small island state its first chance to influence the EU policy agenda from the chair at the head of the Council table.
Already its principal official responsible for the presidency, Malta's parliamentary secretary for EU funds Dr Ian Borg, has made it clear that one of the country's key aims is to keep up the pressure on drug firms over the pricing of their products.
"Most importantly, the Maltese Presidency will continue the work on accessibility and affordability of medicines", according to a memo endorsed by Borg and published on December 14 by the Brussels office of Weber Shandwick.
This goes further than an earlier statement by Malta's health minister Christopher Fearne, who told the December meeting of EU health ministers that childhood obesity, rare diseases and HIV would be the focus of the presidency.
The Maltese emphasis on drug prices is explicitly linked to the vigorous campaign mounted by Dutch health minister Edith Schippers earlier in 2016, when the Netherlands held the presidency.
Schippers' concerns over drug prices led to the adoption in June of the health council call for a rebalancing of power to bring greater transparency to pharmaceutical pricing negotiations in the EU.
The Dutch presidency managed to win adoption of a call for change in the way the current drug pricing and reimbursement system is operating, to avoid shortages, high prices and unequal access to medicines.
The central feature of the agreement among ministers in June was for member states to continue to explore cooperation on pricing and reimbursement.
Transparency is at the heart of Malta's ambitions, according to the memo endorsed by Borg.
"The focus will be on encouraging greater transparency of price setting negotiations," it says.
The mechanisms envisaged by Malta include the setting up of regional and joint procurement mechanisms which would have a link to the relative wealth of individual countries.
The concept, already widely discussed among some member states at recent informal meetings, is for national authorities to boost their strength in pricing negotiations by combining their positions when they talk to companies.
One of the options under review is to agree on a common price - at EU or at regional level - that would then vary according to the buying power of individual countries, fixed through some form of GDP indexing.
Common approaches are particularly attractive to smaller countries that lack the buying power and political clout of larger member states.
The Maltese minister for consumer affairs, Helena Dalli, told a meeting of the European Patients' Academy earlier this month of the difficulties that small countries encounter when it comes to prompt access to innovative medicines.
Fearne spoke of the merits of regional pricing deals as an antidote to drug pricing secrecy after a meeting in Athens last July - at which Malta was represented - of health authorities from southern Mediterranean countries keen to share experiences.
A similar informal meeting of health ministers - to which some drug company bosses were invited - took place in Lisbon last week, with a similar agenda.
Much of the rest of the Maltese agenda is designed to promote cooperation among member states in other fields of health.
One objective is to boost structured cooperation to improve access to innovative health technologies for rare diseases.
Another is revitalising action against HIV. Fearne has spoken of "the recent upsurge in HIV infections EU-wide", which requires, he said, "immediate, concerted action."
Malta will work with the European Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to improve Europe's response.
The focus of the Maltese presidency on obesity is explained by the fact that the country has the highest level of obesity in Europe.
It aims to review progress with the 2014-2020 EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity and will prepare a draft EU position on halting the rise in overweight and
Health-related meetings that the Maltese presidency has already scheduled include a conference on HIV on 30-31 January, a workshop on structured cooperation between health systems on 1-2 March, a ministerial conference on developing medicines for rare diseases on 19-20 March, and an EU group of governmental experts on dementia on 15 May.
eHealth week will take place on 10-12 May.
The informal meeting of EU health ministers will take place on 21 March and the formal EU health council on 16 June.
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