WHO/Europe’s Novel Medicines Platform (NMP) is convening its first working group on 12–13 October 2023, marking the beginning of a dynamic journey towards revolutionizing patient access to medicines.
The core objective of the NMP is to identify concrete actions to improve affordable and equitable patient access to effective, novel, high-cost medicines. To accomplish this, the NMP is organizing 4 working groups, following the themes of transparency, solidarity, sustainability, and antimicrobial resistance.
The inaugural working group, Working Group 2 (WG2), titled Solidarity, is scheduled to convene in Prague and will be chaired by Jakub Dvořáček, the Deputy Minister of Health in Czechia.
The central theme of WG2 is to foster solidarity among stakeholders, striving to align their efforts with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to enhance affordable and equitable patient access to effective, novel, high-cost medicines across the WHO European Region.
In alignment with the European Programme of Work 2020–2025, WG2 aims to bolster voluntary collaborations that emphasize solidarity in achieving patient access to medicines, including activities related to evidence generation, demand consolidation, and procurement strategies.
WG2 will explore the issues from a multistakeholder perspective to develop proposals for concrete actions, including potential pilots. The potential role of WHO/Europe will also be explored.
Participation in the working groups is by invitation only, through nomination by the NMP focal points from Member States, non-State actors and other partners.
For more information about the meeting, please reach out to the NMP at euro-nmp@who.int