Czech-Slovak Partnership To Accelerate Access To New Medicines

On Friday, Czech and Slovak health ministers took a significant step towards strengthening their collaboration in healthcare. Vlastimil Valek of the Czech Republic and Slovakia's Zuzana Dolinkova formalized their intentions by signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at enhancing cooperation in medicines policy and medical devices. The agreement marks a commitment from both nations to accelerate the introduction of innovative medicines, as well as generic and biosimilar drugs, into their respective markets.

The partnership will also focus on addressing critical issues such as medicine shortages, parallel trade, and the marketing of medical devices. Furthermore, the two countries plan to collaborate on projects related to the pharmaco-economic evaluation of health technologies.

In addition to these topics, the ministers highlighted the need for improved cross-border cooperation, particularly in emergency medical services. They discussed the potential for greater integration of ePrescription systems, enabling patients to obtain prescribed medicines across borders more easily. Valek underscored the importance of this initiative, noting that Czech patients can already use ePrescriptions in several European countries, including Poland, Croatia, Spain, Estonia, and Latvia. The Czech Republic aims to extend this capability to even more nations in the near future.

Valek said in a statement, “We would greatly welcome Slovakia’s participation in the cross-border exchange of ePrescriptions. With the large number of Czech citizens who travel to Slovakia daily or reside here permanently, the ability to use this service would significantly improve and simplify their lives.”

During recent discussions, the Czech Ministry of Health highlighted concerns about the potential consequences of national policies on the availability of medicines throughout the European Union. Specifically, they pointed out that Germany and some other EU countries have taken independent steps to secure their own medicine supplies, which could adversely affect access to these essential drugs in the Czech Republic and other EU member states.