Affordable Medicines Europe’s goal is to safeguard and foster independent distribution of branded medicinal products and improve the operating conditions of independent distribution of medicines in the EU, EEA and the UK. Additionally, Affordable Medicines Europe advocates for free trade within the EEA, fair competition in the European Single Market, transparency of the pharmaceutical market, and the completion of a functioning EU internal market for medicines. On this page, you can get to know the priorities of Affordable Medicines Europe’s work.
The European Single Market is the cornerstone of the European Union, and one of its greatest achievements. It fuels economic growth, makes the everyday life of European businesses and consumers easier, and fosters new business opportunities and models. But despite its advantages, the Single Market is struggling: fragmentation of the market is an everyday reality with differing national regulation on several policy areas, the free movement of goods and services is regularly facing barriers by legislation put in place by different Member States, and harmonization of regulation is not advancing fast enough. We experience the progressive erosion of the Single Market rules daily, due to increasing protectionism from national governments and a lack of infringement actions by the European Commission. Political acceptance for the view that re-fragmentation of the Single Market is beneficial is gaining ground, and the Commission’s lack of action places the Single Market project at risk.
When it comes to medicines, free movement of these goods is particularly heavily restricted across the EU. Member States are often quick to introduce export bans of medicines under the pretext of public health reasons, even if a shortage of medicines in question would not have been demonstrated. In cases like this, an export restriction or a ban of medicine is not proportionate, nor justified. Affordable Medicines Europe wants to ensure that all export restrictions that are put in place in the Single Market are properly justified by a public health concern and reversed once a shortage no longer exists.
There is an urgent need to act to fully implement the EU Single Market and allow it to function at its full potential without unjustified national trade barriers, to ensure EU’s competitiveness in the global economy and to make sure that businesses and consumers alike truly benefit from the advantages of the Single Market. The burden of proof and obligation to provide sufficient justification on Single Market barriers need to be reversed, so that they are on the Member States, not on businesses. The functioning of existing tools, such as the TRIS notification procedure, needs to be improved. It is Affordable Medicines Europe’s priority to have the EU as a union, as well as individual Member States, committed to the Single Market rules and to the proper functioning of our common market.
The EU is currently undergoing its most important health legislation revision with the EU pharmaceutical legislation being reviewed after 20 years of existence. It is important that we get this revision right.
Affordable Medicines Europe believes that it is in everybody’s interest to adopt pharmaceutical legislation that is balanced and fair towards all actors of the pharmaceutical market. This would also mean the best possible outcome for European healthcare systems and patient access to medicines.
Independent distribution adds value to society by enforcing price competition in the pharmaceutical market and generating considerable direct and indirect savings for healthcare systems. This is why the operating conditions of the sector of independent distribution need to be improved and safeguarded also in the pharmaceutical legislation, with finding the much-needed balance between transparency requirements and avoiding adding unnecessary administrative burden on businesses, as well as limiting the information-sharing requirements of independent distributors to the information they are realistically able to provide.
When it comes to medicines, free movement of these goods is particularly heavily restricted across the EU. Member States are often quick to introduce export bans of medicines under the pretext of public health reasons, even if a shortage of medicines in question would not have been demonstrated. In cases like this, an export restriction or a ban of medicine is not proportionate, nor justified. Affordable Medicines Europe wants to ensure that all export restrictions that are put in place in the Single Market are properly justified by a public health concern and reversed once a shortage no longer exists.
There is an urgent need to act to fully implement the EU Single Market and allow it to function at its full potential without unjustified national trade barriers, to ensure EU’s competitiveness in the global economy and to make sure that businesses and consumers alike truly benefit from the advantages of the Single Market. The burden of proof and obligation to provide sufficient justification on Single Market barriers need to be reversed, so that they are on the Member States, not on businesses. The functioning of existing tools, such as the TRIS notification procedure, needs to be improved. It is Affordable Medicines Europe’s priority to have the EU as a union, as well as individual Member States, committed to the Single Market rules and to the proper functioning of our common market.
Secret price agreements are increasingly being adopted by countries across Europe to manage the pricing and reimbursement of medicines. These confidential arrangements between payers and pharmaceutical companies have become a central element in determining medicine prices and are primarily used for new, high-cost medicines lacking generic competition. The pharmaceutical industry defends secret price agreements by claiming that confidential, country-specific discounts are essential to ensuring access to costly, innovative treatments—especially in markets where there is uncertainty about cost-effectiveness. Supporters argue that these confidential arrangements contribute to increased access to medicines by facilitating the entry of new therapies at lower prices.
Affordable Medicines Europe believes that the continued use of confidential pricing agreements must be critically re-evaluated. While pharmaceutical companies argue that secrecy enables price flexibility and access, growing evidence suggests the opposite: secret price agreements distort markets, drive prices upwards, limit competition, and undermine transparency without delivering tangible benefits to patients or healthcare systems in terms of affordability and access to medicines. It is difficult for parallel importers of medicines to introduce their products on the market when they do not know who and which price they are competing with, ultimately restricting access to more affordable medicines. Price discrimination via confidential deals has therefore failed to improve access to affordable medicines, particularly for lower-income countries, and may in fact exacerbate inequalities between different EEA countries. These needs to change, to allow more price competition and in the end improved patient access to affordable medicines.
