EAPM - צייט פֿאַר רעפאָרם וועגן געזונט-זאָרג קאָאָפּעראַטיאָן

Welcome, health colleagues, to the beginning of the week, or what the US media, in the wake of Joe Biden’s election in America, are already calling ‘the new normal’. The European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) is expectant of the EU institutions’ moves towards renewed co-operation in health care, שרייבט עאַפּם אויספֿיר דירעקטאָר דעניס האָרגאַן. 

Health-care co-operation – time for Europe to decide

Taking real advantage of Europe's excellence in health care and digital empowerment to improve citizens' lives presents challenges that Europe's policymakers have not yet fully met. The European Union has shown some clarity of assessment in recognizing the needs, and some laudable determination to improve the situation, and it has intermittently taken some real steps to deliver on its ambitions to turn its research into valuable innovations. But as we move towards the third decade of the 21st century in a COVID-19 world, Europe still faces some harsh choices about whether it is actually going to do what it has so often discussed. 

The EU has to make some firm decisions about what deserves support - and where. It must turn words into deeds about promoting effective links between health-care systems and innovation. That requires a sharper focus about developing and retaining the right skill sets in Europe, about funding innovation, about creating an encouraging regulatory environment, and about building greater public understanding and engagement. 

And for personalised medicine above all, the EU has a key role that it should play in bringing together the multiple disciplines required to turn this vast potential of a new approach to healthcare into delivery to patients and to health systems.

The EU has a treaty-based obligation and a publicly-avowed mission to aim at reducing inequalities not only between individual citizens and the regions they live in, but between member states too. A more equitable distribution of research resources seems an inevitable consequence.

The EU's current innovation agenda also brings further complexities to the discussion, with its attempts to build in a “public good” element, rather than solely “commercial good”; it includes “societal challenges” as legitimate targets, even though these may not produce a market return on investment. On top of those complexities, it is obvious that in times of austerity, the problem is exacerbated by even tighter limits on resources.

אַדווערטייזמאַנט

 And hence we come to the need of reform… 

...and Sassoli calls for reform

The coronavirus pandemic must be a wake-up call for “the need of a profound re-foundation of the European project,” European Parliament President David Sassoli plans to say this evening (10 November) in a State of Europe speech at an annual event organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Berlin which, of course, is taking place virtually this year. “The virus we are currently fighting actually exacerbates a whole series of deep fracture lines that have crossed the history of European integration in recent decades. Today they present themselves as challenges to which we are called to give urgent answers,” Sassoli will say, according to excerpts of his draft speech. In short, Sassoli will raise the debate on European reforms to health care in his speech.

Big health week in Brussels

Tomorrow (11 November), the European Commission will be unveiling its European Health Union plans. 

A regulation on cross-border health threats, and new mandates for both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will both be considered and, on Thursday (12 November)  MEPs will debate both the EU4Health proposal and the EU’s vaccine strategy in plenary. Meanwhile, Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and DG SANTE’s John Ryan will be discussing Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan today from 14h Brussels time.

אי.יו. בודזשעט טאָקס

Following what the German Council presidency has described as “intense but ultimately constructive” talks on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament, shared the general optimism, saying: “We are very close to a final deal on the MFF, after the rule of law agreement. We have a very positive momentum to finalize this important package.” 

Weber said: “The European Parliament already gave its consent to the own-resources decision and Council is not capable to do the same. Our economy is being beaten hard by the coronavirus and we urgently need to start using all the available funds to protect our businesses and jobs.”

אָבער, אין אונגארן, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in a letter to European Council President Charles Michel, threatened to block the EU’s budget and recovery package over the deal to link payouts of EU funds to respect for the rule of law. 

Weber responded: “If Viktor Orbán wants to stop the use of these funds for everybody, then he will have to explain that to the millions of workers and business owners, the mayors and students and the researchers and farmers that are counting on the support of these funds,” Weber said. He added: “Everybody who respects rule of law has nothing to fear of this mechanism.” 

Flu vaccination shortage in Portugal

This year’s huge demand for flu vaccines is placing huge pressure on pharmaceutical companies – Portugal has said manufacturers could only guarantee pharmacies 440,000 doses of the vaccine this year – 160,000 fewer than the year before, according to פּאָרטוגאַל נייַעס. Demand, however, rose by more than 20%. 

Council approves WHO reform conclusions

The Council has formally approved a text that calls for reform of the World Health Organization (WHO) ahead of a meeting of the organization’s governing body on Monday (16 November). 

Last week, EU health ministers convened an informal meeting to discuss the future of the health authority. At the time, Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn, representing the EU presidency, said that member countries had reached a “common understanding” on the EU’s role in reforming the WHO.

Coronavirus: EU says economy must wait until 2023 

The EU's economy grew faster than expected during the summer despite the shock of the coronavirus pandemic. With the second wave hitting Europe, however, the bloc's leaders say there will be no V-shaped recovery. As Europe wrestles with the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said that renewed disruptions would "put the recovery on hold in the short term." 

The pandemic crashed the EU economy earlier this year, but the bloc has been recovering more quickly than expected during July, August and September, as the rate of infections dropped and the authorities loosened lockdowns and travel restrictions. During those three months, the bloc's GDP grew by 12.7% — the largest increase since records started in 1995. With infection rates now reaching and surpassing previous levels, however, many EU member states have already reimposed some anti-pandemic measures.

Cancer burden

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on people living with cancer need to be acknowledged and better understood to address long-term care challenges and help improve quality of life for patients, their family members and friends, or carers, a new report concludes. Research undertaken as part of ENABLE—an ongoing qualitative study led by the Macmillan Survivorship Research Group —found cancer patients and their carers have experienced many changes since the COVID-19 outbreak which have negatively affected normality, their independence and the control of their lives. 

 In a related context, EAPM will be organising the following event on Lung Cancer Screening on 10 December, entitled ‘‘Lung Cancer & Early Diagnosis: The Evidence Exists for Lung Screening Guidelines in the EU’.  Registration will open in the next few days. 

And that is all for now from EAPM – have a happy, safe week enjoying the ‘new normal’, see you again soon.

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