Ireland’s Presidency of the EU will link health and competitiveness

Ireland will place health innovation, competitiveness and patient access at the centre of its agenda when it assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July, with a strong focus on the forthcoming Biotech Act, reform of medical devices legislation and more limited public health initiatives.

“The theme of the Presidency health programme is investing in health to improve competitiveness,” said Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, as she laid out three priorities:

“Firstly, medicines, innovation and sustainable access, swiftly progressing the legislation on the Biotech Act and the revisions to the Medical Devices and In Vitro Diagnostics Regulations. Secondly, prevention, innovation and health equity, promoting evidence-based prevention strategies, including work related to the EU Safe Hearts Plan. Thirdly, digital health working on the implementation of the European Health Data Space is an important opportunity to improve care, strengthen research and support innovation.”

Vital Signs was told that the minister was very focused on legislation and identified the Biotech Act and medical devices reform as the flagship files, noting that both support the EU’s broader competitiveness agenda while improving patient access to innovation.

Ireland intends to drive negotiations on both the Biotech Act’s directive and regulation. The source said the biotechnology package is “very much about simplification” and reversing Europe’s declining share of clinical trials. “We need to reverse that, really, and we need to look at how we're doing clinical trials in Europe, make the system more efficient, shorten timelines [and] encourage innovation,”. The diplomat stressed the urgency of the file, arguing that biotechnology is “one of those sectors that Europe can do really well at” if barriers to innovation and commercialisation are removed...

Share this article: