Conferentie over de betere beoordeling van drugsproblemen

The Presidency of the EU hosted on 29 July the conference Assessing Drug Effectiveness – Common Opportunities and Challenges for Europe. As a result of the conference a pilot project at EU level was given the go-ahead. Delegates from 27 countries attended.

The use of drugs is one of the most common methods of treatment in health and medical care. Despite this, knowledge of the effectiveness of drugs in everyday clinical practice is very limited. Major resources are devoted to research before a medicinal product is approved for sale in the European market, but after approval the assessment of the effectiveness of the product in clinical practice is insufficient.

Improved assessment provides a better knowledge base and can lead to use of the medical product that is better adapted to the needs of individual patients. This also provides a better framework for ensuring that money invested in subsidising medicinal products is used more effectively in the EU.

The Conference is a step towards increased European cooperation on assessment of the effectiveness of medicinal products after they have been approved. The ultimate objective is to provide greater assurance and safety to the individual patient by means of a better knowledge base on the part of the health and medical services when drug treatment is started.

As a result of the conference the Swedish EU Presidency has now received the go-ahead from the delegates to initiate a pilot project at EU level. 

“The project includes collecting data on the effectiveness of drugs and on how results can be made accessible to more countries and stakeholders,” says State Secretary Karin Johansson. A meeting will be held in the autumn with the actors who have expressed interest in participating in the pilot project.