Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis is participating in the EU Council of Ministers for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Protection, taking place in Brussels. The Council focuses on two main axes: The regulation on critical medicines, which aims to strengthen production, improve availability and ensure the supply chain of vital medicines in the EU. Subsequently, during the informal working lunch, ministers will discuss new tobacco and nicotine products and their impact on children and young people. Arriving at the Council, Mr. Georgiadis argued that Europe must maintain the production of critical medicines on its territory and that Greece has pioneered in this, as well as in protecting young people from tobacco and alcohol. He also emphasized the need for health to be an EU priority and supported the new pharmaceutical legislation that combines innovation support with clear rules for generic drugs after 11 years.
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As the Health Minister stated, “we will discuss today here in Brussels Europe’s strategic choice to maintain production of critical medicines on European soil and reduce its dependence on third countries. This is something Greece has strongly supported from the first moment and we have fought hard for it”.
Georgiadis: “We have established the strictest legislation”
“We will talk,” the minister continued, “about protection measures for our young people against addiction and use of tobacco and alcohol products. As you know, in Greece we have already established the strictest legislation, we have created electronic platforms and I think we have done very good work, which we will present here”.
“We will also talk about the need for health to become a basic priority in the community budget and community policy, because it is the alpha and omega, a good of human life. And of course we will talk about the new pharmaceutical legislation, a part where Greece has played a major role. On one hand, to protect innovation -because we want the European Union to be a pole of attraction for innovative medicines- and on the other hand, to have clear rules, and eleven years to be the absolute protection, after which generic medicines can be produced. Eight years for the patent to be valid, up to eleven with various incentives, but from eleven onwards generic medicines can be produced. Greece supports both innovation and generics,” the minister concluded.
