BRUSSELS: The European Union on Wednesday (Apr 26) is to unveil a long-awaited proposed reform of legislation governing pharmaceutical drugs to make them cheaper, prevent shortages and speed
The overhaul aims to bring"timely and equitable access for patients to affordable drugs" in the bloc, EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides tweeted.
A leak in February of a draft version of them sparked criticism from companies worried that the exclusive period they had over selling new drugs could be shortened from 10 years to eight. Another challenge to be tackled is increasing microbial resistance to existing antibiotics, which each year leads to 35,000 deaths in the European Union.
Around half the EU member states, including France, Belgium and the Netherlands, are wary of that idea though, worried it would weigh on national health systems."But so far, no one has proposed a better system," said one EU lawmaker, Peter Liese, who is also a medical doctor.
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