Inside EU Health: Fair pricing; promoting EU health tech; WHO profiles for urgently needed microbials
Lower-income EU countries are paying more for cancer medicines; Digital health laboratory makes recommendations on how to bolster EU-vendors; WHO releases new target product profiles for urgently needed antimicrobials
Lower-income EU countries are paying more for cancer medicines
Lower-income EU countries are often paying more for cancer medicines, according to a study by the European Fair Pricing Network. Research across 23 hospitals in nine countries found wide price differences for 15 cancer drugs, both between and within national systems. In some cases, hospitals paid more than double for the same treatment.
The European Cancer League said many hospitals are unknowingly overpaying. For example, hospitals in Hungary were found to pay almost three times more than those in Germany for medicines treating breast, colorectal, and gastric cancers. Guy Muller of the Dutch Cancer Society said the findings challenge assumptions that wealthier countries always face higher prices.
The Association of European Cancer Leagues is urging strong EU action through the Critical Medicines Act, including joint procurement and an EU-wide price observatory. The report also questions reference pricing systems, arguing that closer alignment between list and real prices would support fairer negotiations and more sustainable pharmaceutical policy across the European Union.
Catherine Feore
Digital health observatory makes recommendations on how to bolster EU-vendors
The Observatory for Digital Health Technologies in Europe report on the EU's digital health landscape and market potential finds that, of 690 digital health vendors identified worldwide, only 196 are headquartered in the EU27, while the United States accounts for 354. Germany and France lead in the number of European vendors.
Most EU vendors focus on core health IT systems and administrative tools, with comparatively limited activity in emerging technologies such as AI-powered diagnostics, genomics, novel biosensors, and cybersecurity. The authors express concern that the EU risks becoming dependent on non-EU providers in several critical digital health domains.
European vendors also tend to operate primarily within national markets, and just 11% report having customers outside Europe. The authors present 12 targeted recommendations to advance digital health technologies across the EU, accompanied by key performance indicators, such as establishing a common framework for joint procurement and mutual recognition of certifications, with a number of initiatives to be launched by 2028.
Together, the recommendations aim to support the scaling of EU vendors across borders, and reduce dependencies by fostering innovation and technological leadership within the EU.
WHO releases new target product profiles for urgently needed antimicrobials
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released three new Target Product Profiles (TPPs) for the development of urgently needed antibiotics against drug-resistant bacteria. The guidance focuses on infections that cause severe illness and death worldwide, including bloodstream and urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and meningitis.
A WHO spokesperson told Vitals Signs that the TPPs are intended to ensure that industry, academia, governments, and global health funders all work toward the same R&D targets for the antibiotics the world most urgently needs.
Developed through broad global consultation, the TPPs outline the minimum and preferred characteristics for future antibacterial medicines. The initiative forms part of WHO’s partnership with the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness Authority under the EU4Health programme to combat antimicrobial resistance.
Although about 90 antibacterial agents are currently in development, WHO says that few target the most dangerous resistant bacteria and even fewer represent true scientific breakthroughs.
“The scientific community has developed and approved new antibiotics in recent years. This is good, but unfortunately not sufficient to catch up with evolving drug-resistance bacteria, especially against those of greatest concern,” said Director of Antimicrobial Resistance at WHO, Dr Yvan Hutin. “We need a reliable pipeline with new antibacterial agents that are innovative, affordable, and accessible to all those who need them.”