Malta MEP Saliba Urges EU Intervention to Ensure Affordable Medicines for Smallest Member States

VALLETTA, Malta – Maltese Member of the European Parliament Alex Agius Saliba is calling on European Commission intervention to ensure even the European Union’s (EU) smallest Member States (MS)—such as Malta—have access to affordable pharmaceutical products, in a timely manner.

As it stands, current EU rules discriminate against MSs with smaller markets and healthcare systems because when new products come to market, the way in which they are launched is up to the discretion of pharmaceutical companies.

Saliba said, “If a product is authorized in the Single Market, it should be made available in all Member States and the Maltese citizen should not be deprived or refused access to medicinal products.” However, Saliba said private companies are uninterested in unincentivized when it comes to launching their products in Malta, creating “difficult access to affordable medicines…higher prices for pharmaceutical products…and often even the withdrawal of particular products.”

Unfortunately, Malta has relied on the United Kingdom for its drug supply, said Saliba, which has proved problematic considering Brexit. The UK’s withdraw is leading to access issues and shortages of pharmaceuticals.

The MEP was prompted to ask the “European Commission to intervene and ensure that public interests are safeguarded, and purely economic interests do not drive access to medicine,” he said. For Saliba, timely access to affordable and quality health care is a universal right, but the EU seems unable to guarantee or provide this.