More Europe to tackle the corona crisis
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Showing solidarity by treating patients abroad / Large joint research effort / Less bureaucracy
"We urgently need more joint European action to overcome the corona crisis. Showing solidarity and acting together will make a huge difference in the fight against the corona crisis. If we fail to do so, the corona virus could destroy the EU", declared the German Member of European Parliament (MEP) and health policy spokesperson of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) and doctor Peter Liese. Liese called for massive extensions of cross-border aid measures. “So far, hardly any medical professionals from other EU countries have come to Italy. It is a bad sign for the Italians when they see that Albania, Cuba, China and Russia are helping out in their country, but other European member states are not. Moreover, only two Member States, namely the rather small country Luxembourg, which should explicitly being mentioned in this context, and Germany have accepted patients from other Member States. During the Ebola crisis, we helped patients from West Africa and flew them in. Why the hell is it not possible for patients from Madrid, who can no longer find a place in the completely overcrowded hospitals, to be treated in the Scandinavian countries, Ireland or Eastern Europe?” According to Liese, the European Commission is currently extensively working on finding a solution to this matter. Already tomorrow, Friday, a proposal shall be presented on how the work of the Member States in this area can be coordinated, as well as how free intensive care capacities can be reported as quickly as possible in order to help as many patients as possible, as quickly as possible.
Covid-19 and new medical device rules
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Vital to allow the industry deal with the unprecedented demand
The EU Commission has today agreed to temporarily suspend the introduction of new Medical Device rules amid the Covid-19 crisis “With all our systems under enormous pressure, especially our medical devices industry, it is time to press the pause button on implementation of the Medical Devices Regulation, due to come into force in two months, until such time as things return to normal said Mairead McGuinness MEP and Vice President of the Parliament "It's the right move. I will do my utmost to ensure that the European Parliament adopts the proposal as soon as possible. We must now ensure that all those who can manufacture ventilators, masks, tests and other medical devices do so and focus on addressing the current crisis", said EPP MEP Peter Liese, health spokesperson of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP- Christian Democrats) and supported the announcement of the European Commission to postpone the implementation of the new medical devices regulation for one year.
Zolgensma - Most expensive drug in the world close to marketing approval in Europe
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Hope for little patients and their families / Appeal to Novartis to significantly reduce the price in the EU
The current coronavirus crisis is of high concern to all of us, but we should not lose sight of people suffering from chronic, previously untreatable diseases. For one of these patient groups, MEP Peter Liese, EPP health spokesperson of the largest group in the European Parliament Dr. med. Peter Liese (Christian Democrats), now has good news.
The novel gene therapy drug Zolgensma from Novartis currently costs around two million US dollars (1.9 million euros) in the USA. It is used as a single-use therapy for children with spinal muscular atrophy. However, the drug has not yet been approved in Europe. This will change quickly as an approval is close. "I assume that the approval of Zolgensma will be granted soon. This week, the expert committees at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is responsible for Europe-wide approval, issued a final positive assessment. The European Commission will officially issue the approval in a timely manner. It can now take place quickly."
Read more: Zolgensma - Most expensive drug in the world close to marketing approval in Europe
Europe’s answer to the corona crisis: more solidarity, less bureaucracy
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“More solidarity and less bureaucracy. This is the answer that the European Union should and will give to the corona crisis”, this is the assessment of the health spokesperson of the biggest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian democrats) Dr. Peter Liese. Liese expressed his gratitude to all the people that fight against the corona crisis and treat patients. He explained that patients from the most affected countries, for example France and Italy, are now finally also treated abroad, for example in Germany. “When my group approved a resolution two weeks ago, and even last week when this resolution became public, many people did not believe that member states would really be ready to help, but I am very happy that it is now really working. Also material such as ventilation machines are sent from other European countries to the most affected ones and the European Commission is establishing a crisis mechanism so that the ventilation machines can be used always where the largest need is”, explained Liese. He also expressed confidence that many obstacles which unfortunately hinder the fight against the crisis will be abolished already this week. “All the funds that are available should be focused on fighting the crisis now. This will be approved by the European Parliament in an extraordinary meeting already on Thursday. Most of us are not meeting physically, but we are doing a remote session and also remote voting. We want to be a good example because a strong advice from scientists is that meetings should be avoided whenever possible”, expressed Liese.
Read more: Europe’s answer to the corona crisis: more solidarity, less bureaucracy