21 NOVEMBER 2017

All we are aware that sustainability would be achieved if we enhance the cost-efficiency of our healthcare systems. Value added medicines provide a responsible answer to some of the challenges that patients and payers are facing and can improve budget efficiency, taking also into consideration that their benefits apply to a large variety of therapeutic areas, including rare diseases. Also for this reason, Active Citizenship Network thanks Medicines For Europe for having involved civic and patient organisations to debate on a topic - value added medicines - which is still far from being considered from the wide public. In fact, last 21 of November 2017, Active Citizenship Network officially supported, together with European Federation of Neurological Associations and European Huntington Association, the “My Voice Matters!” exhibition at EU Parliament, promoted by Medicine for Europe-Value Added Medicines Group.

The Value Added Medicines Group is a sector group of Medicines for Europe which aims to optimise, rethink and reinvent medicines based on known molecules and by bringing untapped innovation to improve care delivery.
The objective of the exhibition, hosted by Lieve Wierinck MEP, was to provide a platform for patient groups and representatives to raise awareness on their needs, the importance of a healthcare agenda on patient-centric innovation and how to integrate the patient preference within a range of therapeutic areas.

Lieve WIERINCK, Member of European Parliament, ALDE Group (BE); Mariano VOTTA, Director, Active Citizenship Network

The photos of the exhibition can be found at this link.

Download the speech and see the interview of Mariano VOTTA, Director, Active Citizenship Network, during and after the exhibition at European Parliament (Exhibition Space JAN3Q).

22 NOVEMBER 2017

The day after in Bruxelles Active Citizenship Network participated in the panel of the 1st Value Added Medicines conference “A NEW VALUE PROPOSITION FOR PATIENTS, HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONERS AND SYSTEMS” that gathered a wide range of experts in the healthcare community to raise awareness and develop solutions for patient-centric innovation and better patient access to value added medicines. Value added medicines represent a major opportunity to improve patient adherence and quality of life, also to address a number of medicine-related healthcare inefficiencies. Delegates call for more cooperation among the healthcare community, patients and healthcare providers to support best practice sharing and foster greater patient access to value added medicines.
In particular, Active Citizenship Network was involved in the Session titled “Value added medicines – How to capture their value for society”. The panel discussed different recommendations on how to make sure that the society can capture the benefits of value added medicines, focussed on both the HTA and procurement processes.

The photos of the event can be found at this link. To know more about the initiative, click here.

Background on value added medicines

Many stakeholders believe innovation only leads to generating new molecules, while innovation can come from other areas as well. There is significant untapped potential in Europe to optimise existing therapies to best meet the needs of patients, healthcare professionals and payers and address remaining healthcare inefficiencies. Enhanced customisation of existing therapies to address existing patient or healthcare needs can lead to better outcomes for the entire healthcare community.
While traditional R&D is increasingly focussed on narrow patient populations and with new drugs, this sector group is engaging in patient-centric R&D to address unmet needs of all patients through incremental innovation around known molecules. This research agenda has been neglected by the EU life-science agenda.

Relevant improvements include:

• A better efficacy, safety and/or tolerability profile;
• A better way of administration and/or ease of use;
• New therapeutic uses (indication/population);

These improvements contribute to:

• Better adherence, health outcomes or quality of life;
• Improved safety and efficiency of healthcare professional resources;
• Increased treatment options & preventing therapeutic escalation;
• Improved cost-effectiveness and ultimately access to healthcare;

The added value may be achieved through:

• Drug repositioning;
• Drug reformulation;
• Drug combination (drug/drug or drug/device or drug/service).

How Value Added medicines may contribute to patient needs?
The Value Added Medicines Group see value added medicines as an opportunity to understand and support patient needs. The improvement of treatments containing known molecules should ultimately deliver additional health benefits and help patients to better manage their health condition.
The Value Added Medicines Group is developing a framework to unlock new opportunities to help patients in their healing process, offering more adapted medicines to those who need it.
The Group also strives to ensure that patients be included in the management of their condition and healthcare journey. This will lead to better outcomes for the patient and ultimately lead to better adherence to treatment, an important factor in improving overall public health. The Value added Medicines Group aims to achieve this through designated, targeted patient dialogues, which aim to better understand the patient perspective in their healthcare journey.

Documents

To know more and download documents, click here.