New Medicines for Europe President Launches Access to Medicines Campaign

Marc-Alexander Mahl, the newly elected President of Medicines for Europe, today launched the “Access to Medicines: Better Care for More Patients” campaign, calling on health ministers to fully embrace generic, biosimilar and value-added medicines to improve the sustainability of healthcare systems across Europe.   Dr. Mahl recently took over the Presidency of Medicines for Europe for a two-year period. As Executive Vice President, Business Unit, Generic Drugs at Fresenius Kabi, Dr. Mahl chaired the Hospital Sector at Medicines for Europe. A physician by training, he completed his specialization in transfusion medicine and blood banking in 2001, the year he also joined Fresenius Kabi. He also holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD.   Dr. Mahl explained today: “European healthcare is under financial constraint with many patients struggling to get access to treatments. The increasing overall cost of healthcare will force policy-makers to make difficult and unpopular choices about how best to allocate resources. Yet there is a very simple and obvious way to ensure access while managing healthcare budgets: to promote generic, biosimilar and value added medicines use by patients, medical professionals and pharmacists.”   The new campaign will provide “compelling data and proposals to help policy-makers and stakeholders improve access to medicines”.   http://www.accesstomedicines.eu