62% of Medicines Dispensed in Europe are Generic, according to IMS New Data

Lisbon, 15 June 2017

• Public health: new IMS data reveals the growing importance of generic medicines for public health as they now account for 62% of medicines dispensed in Europe delivering huge value while impacting only 4% of total healthcare budgets.
• Shortages: a new Economist Intelligence Unit report underlined that unsustainable pricing policies are leading to shortages of essential life-saving medicines. Industry vows to change policies that threaten patient access.
• Regulatory Cooperation: global industry leaders and regulators advanced a clear proposal to increase regulatory cooperation to ensure safety, quality and efficacy while reducing administrative redundancies.

Pharmaceutical industry leaders and key stakeholders from the generic, biosimilar and value added medicines sectors are meeting in Lisbon, Portugal 14-16 June to foster international partnership, cooperation and dialogue to address public health challenges for the future during the joint 23rd Medicines for Europe and 20th IGBA Annual Conference. In addition to international regulatory cooperation, several key studies were presented at the conference that highlight the need for a major overhaul of medicines policies to stimulate more access to generic, biosimilar and value added medicines.

Generic medicines now account for the lion’s share (62%) of Europe’s medicines according to the latest data from QuintilesIMS. As the primary industry responsible for providing medicines to patients, we take our public health responsibilities seriously. To sustain this access, it is essential that unsustainable medicine pricing policies are reformed, as they are massively increasing the risk of serious medicines shortages – as outlined in a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit today.

Jacek Glinka, Medicines for Europe President commented: “With generic medicines accounting for 62% of all medicines dispensed in the EU, we call on EU payers to refrain from imposing unsustainable pricing policies that lead to medicines shortages and EU regulators to increase regulatory cooperation to reduce administrative redundancies”.

“We need to implement the recommendations of the WHO Fair Pricing Forum: dialogue between regulators, payers and industry should tackle unsustainable procurement policies”, added Adrian van den Hoven, Chair of the IGBA.

About Medicines for Europe

Medicines for Europe represents the generic, biosimilar and value added medicines industries across Europe. Its vision is to provide sustainable access to high quality medicines, based on 5 important pillars: patients, quality, value, sustainability and partnership. Its members employ 160,000 people at over 350 manufacturing and R&D sites in Europe, and invest up to 17% of their turnover in medical innovation. Medicines for Europe member companies across Europe are both increasing access to medicines and driving improved health outcomes. They play a key role in creating sustainable European healthcare systems by continuing to provide high quality, effective generic medicines, whilst also innovating to create new biosimilar medicines and bringing to market value added medicines, which deliver better health outcomes, greater efficiency and/or improved safety in the hospital setting for patients. For more information please follow us at www.medicinesforeurope.com and on Twitter @medicinesforEU.

About IGBA

The International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGBA) was founded as IGPA (International Generic Pharmaceutical Alliance) in March 1997 to strengthen cooperation between associations representing manufacturers of generic medicines. Its membership includes Medicines for Europe (Europe), the CGPA (Canada), the AAM (USA), the JAPM (Jordan), the Generic & Biosimilar Southern Africa (South Africa), the TGPA (Taiwan) and the JGA (Japan) while the associations from Australia (GBMA), Brazil (ProGenericos), Malaysia (MOPI) and Mexico (AMEGI) are Associate Members. The IGBA is at the forefront of stimulating competitiveness and innovation in the pharmaceutical sector by providing high quality pro-competitive medicines to millions of patients around the world. Through its constituent member associations, the IGBA maintains constant dialogue with government authorities (including the European Commission for Europe) as well as with international institutions such as WTO, WIPO and WHO. More information: www.igbamedicines.com