Treatment without borders: the EU case for equitable patient access to advanced therapies

The EU Pharmaceutical Strategy is looking to improve patients’ access to therapies for challenging and rare conditions. The EU legislation on cross-border healthcare is an important instrument to ensure patient access to the best available care. There is an urgent need to revise this legislation to enable EU patients to access novel advanced therapies and medicines for rare diseases when these are not available in their home country.

EuropaBio’s Advanced Therapies Series continues with a virtual discussion on avenues for enhancing the access of EU patients to novel biotechnology-derived treatments on September 7, 2021, from 16h00 to 17h00 CET.

A patient who is also actively engaged in patient advocacy will explain the value of advanced therapies for rare disease patients and the key challenges they encounter when accessing treatments outside their home countries.

A panel of EU, national, and industry representatives will attempt to put forward solutions for securing equitable access to both specialised centres and to treatment for all EU patients in need. Among others, they will seek to advise on how to tackle the following challenges: some treatment centres being less interested to treat cross-border patients, the need for experience and expertise in rare diseases, approval process and time for cross-border treatment, lack of knowledge or experience of healthcare providers in requesting reimbursement for cross-border treatments, difficulties in approving advanced therapy applications if not reimbursed in the home country, etc.

Moderator

Bernard Grimm, Healthcare Biotech Director, EuropaBio

Speakers

Jana Popova, Executive Committee Member of the European Alliance of Neuromuscular Disorders Associations & EUPATI Patient Engagement Training Coordinator

Brieuc Van Damme, Director-General Healthcare, RIZIV-INAMI

Martin Dorazil, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Health, European Commission

Dirk Vander Mijnsbrugge, Vice President Medical Affairs Lead Rare Diseases International Developed Markets, Pfizer

Irina Grossenbacher, Region Europe Patient Access Director, Novartis Rare Diseases

Tomislav Sokol, Member of the European Parliament, EPP, Croatia