Addressing barriers for consumers to access medicines in the EU

Consumers in Europe encounter barriers when trying to access medicines they need to get healthier. For example, medicines are sometimes unavailable at the pharmacy or not reimbursed due to how expensive they are and the strain they put on public health budgets that have their own boundaries. The revision of the EU pharmaceutical legislation is an opportunity to address these and other challenges, and improve consumers’ access to medicines across EU Member States.

The European Commission is planning to present a legislative proposal to revise the EU
general pharmaceutical legislation at the end of 2022. This brings a unique opportunity to
ensure there is better and more equitable access to medicines in Europe. To get there, the
EU must:

• Improve medicine marketing authorisation;

• Improve medicine availability;

• Increase medicine affordability.