Press Release: Commission proposes faster access to medicines for patients

Medicines should enter the market faster. With this intention the European Commission has proposed today to streamline and reduce the duration of national decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines. In the future, such decisions should be taken within 120 days for innovative medicines, as a rule, and for generic medicinal products within only 30, instead of 180 days.

Commission also proposes strong enforcement measures in case the decisions do not comply with the time limits, as these are often exceeded by Member States. The new Directive represents an important simplification measure and shall repeal and replace the longstanding Directive from 19891, which no longer reflected the increased complexity of the pricing and reimbursement procedures in the Member States.

European Commission: Memo/12/148: Faster access of patients to new medicines – Revised Transparency Directive http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/12/148&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

---