Experts of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies were principal investigators of the report “Cross-Country Collaborations to improve access to medicines and vaccines in the WHO European Region” which has recently been published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
The report assesses five government-led cross-country collaborations Baltic Procurement Initiative, Beneluxa Initiative, Fair and Affordable Pricing, Nordic Pharmaceutical Forum and Valletta Declaration, which aim to improve access to essential medicines through joint activities. These cover activities including information sharing, horizon scanning (to identify candidates for medicines in the pipeline), health technology assessment (HTA), joint pricing/reimbursement negotiations and joint procurement of medicines. The report investigates challenges and facilitating factors and concludes with a checklist of prerequisites for successful cross-country collaborations.