The New EU Commission

1. Transfer of Pharmaceutical Policy

On November 27, 2009 the European Commission President Mr. José Manuel Barroso announced the portfolios of the new EU Commission. Barroso transferred pharmaceutical policy from the portfolio of the Commissioner of Enterprise and Industry to the Commissioner for Health and Consumer policy - John Dalli (the new commission was approved by the European Parliament on February 9).
The new Health and Consumer Policy portfolio will now include responsibility for pharmaceutical products and medical devices. These changes will be reflected at the level of the directorate generals. The Pharmaceutical Products and Cosmetics Unit F.2 and F.3, and consequently the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) moved from DG Enterprise Industry to DG Health and Consumers (DG Sanco). Furthermore, the Biotechnology and Pesticides Unit moved to DG Sanco from DG Environment.

In future, DG Sanco will therefore take charge of drafting pharmaceutical legislation and decision-making on questions such as product authorization etc. It will also take on responsibility for the European Medicine Agency (EMEA) as well as for some aspects of biotechnology and pesticides.
It remains to be seen how this change in administration of pharma policy will influence the ongoing legislation procedures (see 2.). Many member state governments had already been irritated by the "more liberal" proposals concerning information about prescription-only medical products to the public, which had been drafted by the former European commissioner for enterprise Günter Verheugen at the end of 2008 ("Pharmaceutical Package", see "Rules & Regulations" CHEManager Europe 1/2009).

2. Patients First, Consumers First

John Dalli, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, was heard by the European Parliament on Jan. 14, 2010. In his general introductory address to the members of the European Parliament, John Dalli insisted that the underlying theme of his work will be "patients first, consumers first". His vision includes European citizens living longer and healthier lives, and consumers influencing the policies that concern them. John Dalli also answered questions regarding whether changes to the so called "pharmaceutical package" were going to be envisaged as a result of this governance change. While John Dalli assured his intentions to move on fast with the Pharmacovigilance and Faked Medicines directives and regulation he also stated that DG Sanco "will reassess the package on information and bring more patient perspective to the proposal." He pointed out that a "stronger demarcation between information and advertising" was needed. That seems to indicate that the new health commissioner has strong doubts that the proposal, which is controversially discussed in the European Parliament, is practicable and that - presumably - the process of "liberalizing" direct information concerning prescription medicinal products to the public will be regulated in a more restrictive way.