The generic medicines industry is at the heart of public health delivery. This industry provides essential medicines that European patients, healthcare professionals and healthcare systems rely on to treat most acute and chronic ailments ranging from cardiovascular, to diabetes and even to cancer. Generic medicines have transformed healthcare in Europe by significantly increasing access to medicine for patients in an era of rising demands for healthcare services and constrained finances. Over the last ten years, generic medicines have increased access to medicines by over 100% in 7 key therapeutic areas without increasing the overall treatment cost. Millions of European patients have benefited from better access to gold standard therapies as a result of this transformation.
See our IMS infographic on the Role of Generic Medicines in Sustaining Healthcare Systems.
Generic medicines create better value for health at many different levels:
Generic medicines are subject to stringent EU and national regulations governing their approval, quality, manufacturing (GMP) and post-marketing surveillance (pharmacovigilance) to ensure the highest levels of safety, quality and efficacy. Our industry is both committed to fulfilling these requirements and is also in regular dialogue with European and national regulators to maintain high standards for Europe and to promote these standards globally.
Generic medicines create economic value in three major areas: by considerably increasing the supply of medicines (a more competitive market), by supporting sustainability of healthcare budgets (reducing pressure on public and private healthcare budgets) and by generating new employment, manufacturing and investment opportunities (a positive macroeconomic impact). With over 400 manufacturing sites across Europe, more than 190.000 employees and an investment of up to 17% of their turnover into R&D activities, the generic medicines industry is an important and growing industry of the future.
Generic medicines truly ensure access to high quality, safe and effective treatments for European patients which is essential for the well-being of our population. Incredibly, generic medicines only take up a very small part of the healthcare budget. 67% of prescriptions of dispensed medicines in Europe are generic yet they account for just 29% of the total expenditure on medicines. Without competition from generic medicine manufacturers, this level of access would cost Europe an additional €100 billion every year. For these reasons, it is therefore essential to foster a dynamic and competitive generic manufacturing sector in Europe.
To ensure that all patients get access to the medicines they need, our industry is committed to working with the healthcare community and with policy makers to create predictable and competitive pharmaceutical markets in Europe. Our association is therefore engaged in stakeholder and regulatory dialogues to provide objective and accurate information to improve access to high quality medicines.