While great progress has been made in recent years in the development of public health within the European Union (EU), the Covid-19 pandemic brought to light existing vulnerabilities in the European health response mechanism, from Member State incoordination to difficulties in manufacturing and accessing medicines, to EU research fragmentation and differences between corporate R&D choices and public health priorities.

On 2 June 2020, the European Commission published its roadmap for a pharmaceutical strategy for Europe, fostering access to affordable high-quality, effective and safe medicines and supporting innovation in the EU pharmaceutical industry. With its resolution of 17 September 2020 on shortages of medicines, the European Parliament called on the Commission and Member States to 'examine the possibility of creating one or more European non-profit pharmaceutical undertakings which operate in the public interest to manufacture medicinal products'. The December 2021 Council conclusions suggested examining Parliament's resolution to ensure the supply of medicinal products affected by market failures.

With these objectives in mind, a recent STOA study investigated the feasibility of creating a large-scale European public infrastructure aimed at addressing vulnerabilities linked to the research, development, production and distribution of medicines. This workshop will bring together experts from biomedical research, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, and EU and international public health experts to discuss the state-of-play of the EU's current pharmaceutical strategy and explore policy options for strengthening EU preparedness and response, including the feasibility of creating an advanced EU pharmaceutical infrastructure for the research and development of novel medicines and treatments.

PROGRAMME

15:00-15:10 Welcome remarks and introductory statement

Patrizia TOIA, MEP and STOA Panel member

15:10-15:20 Presentation of the STOA study: 'European pharmaceutical research and development: Could a public infrastructure overcome market failures?'

Massimo FLORIO, Professor of Public Economics, University of Milan

15:20-16:20 Panel discussion

Moderation by Karin SIPIDO, Head of Experimental Cardiology, KU Leuven

Giulia DEL BRENNA, Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW), European Commission

Arjon VAN HENGEL, Deputy Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (RTD), European Commission

Christian WIMMER, Senior Expert, Directorate-General for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), European Commission

Jacques DEMOTES, Director-General, European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN)

Rolf APWEILER, Director, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)

Els TORREELE, Policy Associate, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

Rosa CASTRO, Senior Policy Manager, European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)

Salah Dine CHIBOUT, Chair of the Research & Innovation Strategy Group, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA)

Emily ERBELDING, Director, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, NIAID/NIH

16:20-16:50 Q&A session

16:50-17:00 Closing remarks

Patrizia TOIA, MEP and STOA Panel member