Mark Grossien

Talking about the role of the EU in the developing world EC Director General for Development Stefano Manservisi described the new approach to health development policy on a global level: “From donorship to partnership”. He explained that access to medicine needs to be viewed as not only provision of medicines but rather the ability to […]

A crowded room at the offices of the European Policy Center yesterday afternoon. The topic of the day is “The future of medical devices in Europe”. The distinguished panel includes Josée Hansen, Pharm. D, project leader, Priority Medical Devices/ EHT, WHO-Geneva . Ms Hansen elaborated on the project’s approach, scope and objectives. In a nutshell, […]

Is innovation still affordable with increasingly strained healthcare budgets? How can medical innovations continued to be financed? Panelist of the round table of distinguished speakers Member of the European Parliament Jorgo Chatzimarkakis made a statement which nicely complements the study released by AdvaMed only 2 days ago. He said that innovation does not increase costs […]

An exclusive roundtable hosted by Johnson & Johnson during this year’s Hauptstadtkongress debated the question whether the current healthcare system in Germany should compromise between the need to standardize treatments due to scarce resources and increasingly informed patients demanding the best treatment possible. Although panelists agreed that Germany may be leading in terms of standards […]

Sitting in the crowded main conference hall of Berlin International Congress Center (ICC) on the opening day of Germany’s largest health policy conference, the so-called Hauptstadtkongress, I am keen to see where senior government officials see the healthcare system headed. The conference center breathes the atmosphere of a 70s sci-fi movie. I am listening to […]

Last night I attended BVMed’s well attended debate looking at the German medical technology sector in times of the economic crisis. The debate was hosted by the permanent representation of the German Federal State of North Rhine Westfalia. Member of the European Parliament, Dr Peter Liese, was one of the speakers. He welcomed BVMed’s initiative […]

Brussels, 8 April 2009 – Eucomed welcomes revision of directive 2000/35/EC on Late Payments adopted by the European Commission today strengthening current payment obligations. Association disappointed to see final text considerably watered down compared to initial clear targets. As the voice of the medical technology industry in Europe, Eucomed is extremely pleased to see late […]

Today at the European Business Summit in Brussels a workshop was organized focusing on health entitled “Ageing and health: Pay for the grey”. The distinguished panel included Androulla Vassilliou, European Commissioner for Health, AGE, the European Older People’s platform, and the Japanese ambassador to the EU and last but not least industry representatives. Not surprisingly, […]

On Tuesday, 17 March 2009 I attended the Health First Europe round table on patient safety and healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) in the European Parliament. The session was co-hosted by MEPs Liz Lynne and Amalia Sartori. The presentation by Dr Carl Suetens from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) presented some interesting […]