Madrid, November 4th 2015.– Farmaindustria and the Ministries of Finance and Public Administrations and of Health, Social Services and Equality signed a Protocol of Collaboration  – aimed at guaranteeing the sustainability of the Spanish NHS (SNS) and access to innovation. The signing was carried out today, during an event held at the premises of the Ministry of Health, with the presence of Ministers Cristobal Montoro and Alfonso Alonso, and the President of Farmaindustria, Antoni Esteve, and also the Secretary of State of Public Administrations, Antonio Beteta.

This Protocol will have duration of 12-months starting on December 1st with the possibility of it being extended annually, up to a maximum of three years. It is based on the reconciling of objectives and the State’s commitments with regards to public deficit and sustainability of the SNS, to healthcare and pharmaceutical needs for the population and to the future challenges of an industrial sector which is key to the Spanish economy such as the pharmaceutical sector. In this regard, the President of Farmaindustria highlighted that “this agreement is a clear sign of the Spanish Government’s commitment and the pharmaceutical industry’s with citizens’ healthcare and with the economic and social reality of Spain”.

Thus, the Protocol intends to maintain a monitoring process on public pharmaceutical expenditure, linking its growth to that of GDP in a manner in which patients have access to the best, most innovative and effective available medicines, and in which the pharmaceutical sector continues with its industrial development. “We are convinced that this commitment will guarantee that patients, healthcare professionals and administrative officials will have the most innovative and appropriate pharmaceutical treatments available, in such a time like this, when biomedical scientific discoveries are being transformed into very significant improvements in the treatment of medicines which most affect our society”, remarked Esteve.

For this to be possible, the Ministries of Finance and Health and Farmaindustria agree to establish a framework by which, from a certain threshold, if the therapeutic needs of society are higher to those required for the development of economy, formulae are put forward to make them compatible.

According to the President of Farmaindustria, establishing a growth threshold for such an innovative sector as the pharmaceutical one is another proof of the industry’s commitment to balance public accounts.

On the other hand, the agreement offers a higher degree of stability and predictability for the pharmaceutical sector, introducing a certainty factor in its economic regulation, as well as rewarding the value of innovation.

The President of Farmaindustria stressed that this new scenario will contribute to overcoming the difficulties which the industry has gone through, thus recovering a path of trust which makes it easier for companies in the sector to face new challenges, especially as far as research and internationalization are concerned. In this regard, Esteve stated that “the pharmaceutical industry shall have an outstanding role in Spanish social and economic recovery, given that a knowledge-based economy is essential for growth in Europe and the world”.

To conclude, Esteve emphasized that this Protocol is a modern agreement since it contemplates a public-private relationship model which, to a certain extent, could be deemed as risk-shared, in which all parties share a common ultimate aim: “the best possible care for citizens through a healthcare system that is effective and sustainable”.