DemócrataPRO brings together the Health Commission to debate on the reform of the law on medicines

On 21 March, DemócrataPro brought together the spokespersons of the Health Commission of the Spanish Congress of Deputies to reflect on innovation as a patients’ right in the context of the drug reform announced by the Minister of Health, Mónica García.

The meeting was attended by patients in the person of Isabel Motero, Director General of the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases (FEDER); by scientific opinion represented by Jesús García-Foncillas, President of the ECO Foundation (Excellence and Quality in Oncology); and by industry, in the person of Jesús Ponce and Juan Yermo, President and Director General of Farmaindustria, who sponsored this agora.

Under the moderation of María Manjavacas, the debate was framed around four questions:

1. Is it possible to improve patient participation in access to new medicines and treatments?
2. Is it necessary to reform the funding and pricing model for medicines to improve the rate of access to new medicines?
3. Should medicines with incremental innovation be recognised in the new Medicines Act?
4. Do you think that strategic medicines should be excluded from the reference price system or should their price be revised to favour their continuity in the market?

Despite their very different positions, all the participants agreed on the need to update the so-called Medicines Law, since according to data provided by Farmaindustria, Spain is one of the slowest countries to make innovative medicines available.

Except for the Mixed Parliamentary Group, the PNV and Junts, who for scheduling reasons were unable to attend, all parliamentary groups participated. Below, democratapro shares the main conclusions and statements of the MEPs and other speakers.