Shaping the future of Europe’s healthcare in a new political cycle

Against the backdrop of the upcoming European elections, could the EU do more to positively affect healthcare outcomes across the EU 27 in the next legislative cycle? Astra Zeneca’s Stefan Woxström believes now is the time to seize the momentum.

Woxström, AstraZeneca’s Senior Vice President for Europe & Canada argues that Europe is at a pivotal moment for healthcare, a decision point which will shape the future of healthcare on the continent for the next two decades.

Against the backdrop of an ageing population which is driving chronic disease rates and threatening the sustainability of EU health systems, Woxström said now is the time to act to reverse damaging trends, ‘future-proofing’ health systems and ensuring Europe stays competitive on a global level and at the forefront of medical innovation.

Persistent policy bottleneck

The persistent policy bottleneck is that healthcare remains a member state competence. Universal access to quality and affordable healthcare is widely regarded as the basic threshold for care, but its organised and financed in different ways across the 27 member states.

According to Eurostat, Germany and France spend the most on healthcare relative to GDP, whereas Romania and Baltic Member States had the largest increase in healthcare expenditure per inhabitant between 2012 and 2020.

But increasingly, since the Covid-19 pandemic stress tested healthcare systems, there’s been a growing consensus to use policy and legislation to help member states level up and improve supply chains, affordability, and access to medicine.

In 2020 the European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the EU would: “Build the foundations of a stronger European Health Union in which 27 countries work together to detect, prepare and respond collectively.” Yet that momentum has slowed as the EU deals with geopolitical and economic fallout from the war in Ukraine and Middle East crisis.

Connection, collaboration, conversation

At a recent Astra Zeneca debate [in collaboration with Euractiv] at the European Parliament in Brussels, MEP Margarita de la Pisa Carrión said: “Health is our responsibility. As the European Union we can help create an environment where health standards become the best in the world through connection, collaboration, and conversation.”

Supporting that approach was Magda Chlebus, Executive Director, Science Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, EFPIA. She said: “There were many conversations that were had with policymakers from the European Commission to the European parliament to the European Council [in this mandate]. A lot of what we [EFPIA] have been saying has been heard. The trick is to make something that achieves all goals. I’ve had the impression that it’s either access or innovation to new healthcare solutions.”

The pharma lobby has been highly critical of the upcoming EU pharma package. EFPIA believe the legislation created to incentivise industry and drive innovation across the value chain, could have a negative impact. Driving down R&D at a cost of €2bn a year.

Industry is concerned

EFPIA are not alone. Industry too have voiced concern on the ability of the pharma package to deliver. Stefan Woxström, speaking after the European Parliament adopted its position on the legislation, said: “While the Parliament vote advocates for promising reforms to the Commission’s proposals, it is regrettable to see the endorsement to reduce the baseline regulatory data protection for innovative medicines and market protection to develop Orphan Medicinal Products.”

He added: “EU Member States are faced with a generational opportunity to better the lives of patients in Europe ensuring competitiveness and attractiveness of the region for R&D investment. It is crucial that legislators carefully evaluate the potential impact of these revisions and move forward with shaping legislation that supports medical research and faster access to innovative therapies for patients.”

Solutions-based approach

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians have tried to take a solutions-based approach to tackling health inequalities. The contentious Revision of the General Pharmaceutical Legislation aside, the last European mandate has given birth to other legislative proposals such as the European Health Data Space and non-legislative initiatives such “Healthier Together,” a Non-Communicable Diseases initiative and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

Richard Price, Head of Policy at the European Cancer Organisation lauded the renewed commitment to cancer prevention, treatment and care but urged politicians to do more to combat healthcare challenges, including a looming health workforce crisis falling under the radar.

15 million, 7% of the EU workforce, work in healthcare. The World Health Organisation (WHO) warn that a crisis is looming as workers face mental health issues, lack of training, labour shortages and infrastructure limitations. The global health body estimates a projected shortfall of 10 million health workers by 2030, across low- and lower-middle income countries.

Richard Price, Head of Policy at the European Cancer Organisation explained that the health workforce crisis is the number one problem Europe didn’t learn from the pandemic. He said: “I don’t think we are doing much at a European level to address this crisis. I hope that the precedent we have set in policy following Covid-19, can be followed for the workforce crisis. It has to be on the agenda for the next European Parliament and Commission.”

But could the ongoing war in Ukraine blunt European ambition in healthcare? Twenty per cent of the €5.3 billion EU4Health programme is being redirected for the war effort.

Rebalancing health budgets

MEP Cristian-Silviu Busoi said: “We need to support Ukraine. We needed to mobilise some of the existing funds to give Ukraine the necessary support over the next years. Unfortunately, some cuts are coming from the EU4Health and Horizon Europe. But we will try to find the money from de-commitments – money that has not been spent or allocated.”

Busoi expressed hope, saying: “We will also look to the annual EU budget to try to rebalance the one billion Euros that was cut from healthcare. We will ensure that no essential programmes such as prevention campaigns will be affected.”

With the pandemic firmly in the rear-view mirror, healthcare manifesto pledges ahead of the June elections are thin. Pernille Weiss, MEP, who authored a directive on the European Parliament’s response to the pharmaceutical strategy for Europe says the EU can ill-afford to lose momentum in delivering quality healthcare for all.

Weiss said: “It is crucial that the EU prioritises cooperation between Member States, or they run the risk of failing to deliver those solutions which are needed by patients and the wider society. This goes for challenges such as a possible new pandemic and the global threat of antimicrobial resistance, but also for challenges of the ongoing demographic changes (…).”

This article follows the policy debate “Shaping the future of healthcare in Europe: looking ahead to the new EU political cycle” organised by AstraZeneca.

[By Mariam Zaidi I Edited by Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]

Read more with Euractiv

Athens eyes global pharma investments, defends patent ecosystem protection

Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, says he wants Greece to attract more investment from global pharmaceutical companies, to foster life science innovation and the creation of more Greek intellectual property.