E-health: your every personal detail online
New technologies have flooded our lives: many day-to-day products and activities now begin with the prefixes i-, e-, cyber-, info-, techno-, m-, net-, tele-, and the list goes on. It’s easy to get lost in this carrousel of innovation! Digitalisation...
When medicines cost an arm and a leg. And an eye
Last week, a pharmaceutical company was accused of intentionally inflating the price of one of its medicines by 2,000%[1]. Does this kind of news seem like déjà vu? Most probably, because escalating medicine prices are getting more and more coverage....
Mhealth – opportunities and privacy risks
Out of the apps on your phone, how many of them are about health, fitness or lifestyle? Quite a few probably. Mobile health (mHealth) is trendy. It has the potential to transform the way healthcare is delivered because it allows...
Playing with consumers’ health: game over?
When you can’t access a drug treatment because of its price, you’ve probably run out of options. This is what happened some years ago to some patients affected by a severe eye disease [1]. They were denied treatment due to...
Lisa’s story and the price of anti-cancer drugs
The child of a dear friend of mine, whose name is Lisa, unfortunately developed cancer when she was only 4. She is now 8 and has received the all-clear from the doctors. She was one of the lucky children who...
When drug approval is quick, it should not be dirty
Imagine you or a loved one have a disease. It can be treated, but only with a new medicine that is not yet available. The time it normally takes for a new drug to reach the market means it might...
A bitter pill to swallow
The trend is clear: the cost of medicines is increasing. Many EU healthcare systems are now spending more than ever before on pharmaceutical products. At a time when the words ‘economic crisis’ rhyme with ‘normality’, consumers are having to shoulder...
Ending the deadlock on endocrine disruptors
Lately there has been a lot of talk in EU circles about endocrine disruptors. Endo-what you might ask? Let me break it down for you: Imagine you urgently need to call somebody with an important message. But no matter how...
Health: Is TTIP the pill for all our ills?
Transatlantic cooperation, done properly, could have a positive impact on consumers on both sides of the Atlantic in various areas, including health. Nevertheless, reading the EU’s positions on the pharmaceutical and medical devices[1] (e.g. pace makers, hip implants) chapters of...
“TTIP won’t lower standards” – Well then let’s break down how – UPDATE
Update: 11 September 2015 In this blog, I urged EU policy-makers to give us strong and tangible reassurances that TTIP wouldn’t lower standards. Well, they need to do a better job. The peace of the Brussels’ summer was indeed troubled...