June 2014

Healthy ageing and more transparency on clinical trials were in the spotlight in June with the Uppsala Health Summit and the Clinical trials Regulation entering into force.

Healthcare for healthy ageing

The Uppsala Health Summit in June focused on “Healthcare for Healthy Ageing". The European Union has given increased attention to this issue over the last few years, notably through the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing and shared a great video this year on this (link, YouTube).

EPF believes more actions from decision-makers are necessary to advance the rights of older patients. Therefore we took the opportunity of this event to reiterate our position on the rights and needs of older patients.

This paper highlights important flaws that have been identified by patient organisations in the care for older people and provides recommendations for the EU institutions, Member States, and health stakeholders. 

To read the full version of our position paper, please click here (PDF).

 

 

More transparency on clinical trials

The new EU Clinical Trials Regulation entered into force on 16 June 2014. As part of this Regulation, patients can now look for clinical trials’ information on www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu as European Medicines Agency (EMA) made them publicly available since July.

This Register is the public repository of information contained in the EudraCT database, the central EU database used by national competent authorities. 

We were delighted with this decision as we have called for the publication of the results of all clinical trials in a timely manner, regardless of the outcomes, since the beginning of our involvement with EU clinical trials legislation and through our support of the All Trials campaign.

The EMA also formally adopted in October 2014 its new policy for the release of clinical trial data. EPF has released a statement to welcome it as a step forward towards greater transparency of the regulatory process on clinical trials (link).