| We innovate for people
Madrid, December 29th, 2016.- Today, FARMAINDUSTRIA, the Ministry of Finance and Public Function and Health and the Ministry of Social Services and Equality signed the Agreement that renews, for 2017, the Protocol of Collaboration agreed on back in November 2015 with the common objective to ensure the sustainability of the National Health System (NHS) and the access of citizens to pharmaceutical innovations. The signing was completed, in a ceremony that took place in the Ministry of Health Headquarters, and Ministers Cristóbal Montoro and Dolors Montserrat, as well as the President of FARMAINDUSTRIA, Jesús Acebillo, took part in the event.
The Agreement maintains the same provisions of that that was signed last year, which envisaged a twelve month period and the possibility of annual renewal up to a maximum of three years. It was based on the conciliation of the State’s objectives on the public deficit and sustainability of the NHS, the health and pharmaceutical needs of the population and the future challenges of an industrial sector fundamental to the Spanish economy, such as pharmaceutical. In this sense, the renewal responds to the fulfillment of these objectives and to the climate of dialogue and collaboration that the Government and FARMAINDUSTRIA have been maintaining throughout this time.
The Agreement sets out to match the growth of public expenditure on medicines to that of GDP, so as to enable the Government to meet its budgetary adjustment objectives while ensuring the patients have access to the necessary medicines. In the event that the expected expenditure threshold is exceeded, because the therapeutic needs of society exceed the development of the economy, the Government and FARMAINDUSTRIA are committed to come up with suitable solutions that will make it compatible, including compensation from the industry.
This challenge is greater at a time such as the present, where scientific advances in biomedicine are seeing some highly significant improvements in the treatment of diseases that mostly affect society, and the Agreement creates a solid guarantee that, patients, healthcare professionals and health advisers can have the most original and appropriate pharmacological treatments.
In short, the now renewed Agreement recognizes the value of innovation, commits the Administration and pharmaceutical industry in a more structured policy against short-term approaches, and shows the possibilities of a public-private partnership in the search for innovative solutions and on the basis of risk-sharing.
The Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality, Dolors Montserrat, stressed the importance of signing the collaborative Agreement between the General Administration and FARMAINDUSTRIA, since it shows the Government’s will “to continue working on the achievement of progress within The National Health System, working towards better quality, equity and health care cohesion.”
Dolors Montserrat has indicated her desire to work together with the pharmaceutical industry and the Autonomous Communities to support the sustainability of pharmaceutical and healthcare expenditure. Since 2012 public accounts have saved € 6.5 billion and have incorporated more than 200 therapeutic innovations in diseases such as cancer or Hepatitis C.
The Head of Health has also expressed his interest that all Autonomous Communities subscribe to this Agreement, “from the dialogue and consensus for the 47 million Spaniards.”
“Keeping in line our growth with that of the country’s economy is not easy for an innovative sector like ours,” says FARMAINDUSTRIA President Jesús Acebillo. “But it offers us a valuable framework of stability for a long-term industry. However, above all, it allows us to show our commitment to the country and society and to contribute to the reliability of the health system, which translates into quality and safety assurance for patients, health professionals and health advisers.”
