- Funding Programme
- Year
- 2021
Patient Access to Medicines
The project "Ensuring Patient Access to Medicines in Austria and the EU by Improving the Pharmaceutical Value Chain" (short: Patient Access to Medicines) aimed to propose sustainable solutions to the problem of limited patient access to medicines in Austria by trying to strengthen the resilience and attractiveness of the pharmaceutical value chain.
Context
Sustainable access to medicines is a topical issue in Austria and other European (EU) member states that has become increasingly important in recent years. Patients are increasingly confronted with situations in which medicines are not available in pharmacies or there is a lack of treatment options for their (rare) diseases. The "Patient Access to Medicines" project therefore aimed to improve the security of supply of medicines for patients in line with the EU's pharmaceutical strategy for Europe.
Support delivered
The project was financed with funds from the EU funding program "Technical Support Instrument" (TSI). It was initiated by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK) and supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy (BMAW).
Experts from the consortium analyzed the pharmaceutical value chain and existing funding instruments in Austria and at EU level in order to identify barriers and opportunities to improve access to medicines. Proposals for political measures were then drawn up with the aim of sustainably improving access to medicinal products.
Results achieved
With the involvement of relevant stakeholders, a total of twenty potential policy measures were proposed to strengthen patients' sustainable access to medicines in Austria. These were assessed and prioritized on the basis of evaluation criteria and further recommendations for possible implementation were developed. The prioritized measures focused in particular on the following topics:
- Options for register searches
- Increasing flexibility and transparency in terms of the security of supply of essential medicines
- Joint procurement in public hospitals
- Piloting of outcome-based managed entry agreements
- Proposals for improving the financing of highly innovative medicinal products
- Approaches to strengthen production
Due to the topical subject of supply bottlenecks, a particular focus was placed on recommendations for action in this area. Additional support services were provided as part of implementation support.
Useful links
Austrian Health Forum
https://www.austrianhealthforum.at/kongresse/gastein-2023/
Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment (AIHTA)
Editorial: EU-Strukturreform Projekt zu Patient*innen-Zugang zu Medikamenten in Österreich
More about the project
You can read the documents related to the project here: