September Board agenda item 14b Medicines Shortages

Link back to September 2016 Board Meeting agenda here.

Slovak Presidency activity

EAHP has recently been made aware of a paper for national governments prepared by the Slovak Presidency of the EU, to focus attention on how to respond to the problem of medicines shortages. July 2016 Council paper here (see in particular questions at the end).

The “Supply Chain Actors” collaboration (including EAHP) has recently agreed a short letter to submit in advance of the meeting. The letter mostly highlights that a cooperation between the organisations on the subject of shortages information is underway, and that involvement of stakeholders in political discussions on shortages is imperative. Agreed letter here.

The Board Meeting provides an opportunity to discuss a potential further representation from EAHP specifically, going into greater depth on the issues raised in the Working Party Paper.

Draft EAHP letter here

Parallel trade

It is also known that the Slovak Health Minister takes a particular interest in shortages caused by parallel trade, it being deemed a prevailing factor for medicines shortages in that country.

Currently, EAHP’s positioning in respect to parallel trade is loosely:

In support of the ability of national governments to impose export bans as necessary to prevent shortages;
In support of better information on the scale of parallel trade as a factor in shortages (currently one of the “blind spots” in terms of information);
Understanding that parallel trade is not wholly negative, and at times can provide a source remedy to domestic shortages

A question is whether our positioning on the topic should go further than this, not only in respect to the Slovak Presidency discussions, but also in respect to recent invitations to attend discussions on parallel trade elsewhere. More information here.