Andriukaitis: Supporting drug innovation is 'the only way'

Peter Bogaert is quoted in a EurActiv article regarding EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andruikaitis' remarks in support of drug innovation. "The incentives which are built in the pharmaceutical regime and especially the SPCs and the regulatory exclusivity aim to work as a stimulus to develop new products in order to basically continue the innovation in the long term," Bogaert says. He notes that there might be models where one has a more fine-tuned approach to the prices but one should not attack the innovation system purely in order to get cheaper products because then "you are undermining the incentives for new products and this reduces the level of innovation in the industry." Bogaert adds, "The IP aims to give certain exclusivity rights, it's a stimulus to innovate and develop new products and the basic idea is that you can get a good financial return on innovation efforts."