Health (pharmaceuticals, patient safety, cross-border healthcare and e-health)
Confronted with a growing amount of information from different sources, consumers find it difficult to identify reliable sources of non-promotional information about health, medicines and treatments.
There is still a lack of clarity and legal certainty regarding consumers’ rights in healthcare in their home country and across borders.
Due to problems affecting competition and research in the pharmaceutical sector, there is a decline in innovation. In addition, European consumers are now faced with the problem of counterfeit medicines, especially on the Internet.
What are our objectives?
We aim to…
... Secure a rational use of medicines and allow consumers to make informed choices
... Guarantee consumers benefit from safe and innovative medicines
... Ensure consumers have access to high quality healthcare in all EU member states, are aware of their rights and have the tools to enforce them.
What is needed?
Consumers need better information about health, medicines and treatments and better access to safe, innovative and affordable medicines. In order to achieve this:
- Consumers must be provided with non-promotional, high quality and comparative information on health, medicines and treatments.
- The EU pharmacovigilance system should be made more efficient and the safety of the medicine supply chain must be fostered
- High quality and safety standards of healthcare must prevail all over Europe
- Clear rights in healthcare must be defined whether the consumer is at home or in another EU country
- E-health applications which bring concrete benefits to consumers must be put in place.
To contact our experts on the issue: health[AT]beuc.eu*
Find out more in our recent documents
Counterfeit medicines
Pharmacovigilance
Governance change needed concerning EU pharmaceutical policy – open letter to the European Commission signed with AIM and EPHA on 17 June 2009
BEUC comments on the pharmaceutical sector inquiry
Health care across borders
Direct to consumer information
A strong, transparent and proactive pharmacovigilance system
* Where is the @?
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