Czech Republic, Slovakia agree on cooperation in medicines policy

Prague, Aug 17 (IANS) Czech Health Minister Vlastimil Valek and his Slovak counterpart Zuzana Dolinkova signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in medicines policy and medical devices.

The two countries on Friday agreed to collaborate on facilitating the faster entry of innovative medicines, as well as new generic and biosimilar drugs into the market, Xinhua news agency reported.

They also committed to jointly engaging in new projects, according to a statement from the Czech Ministry of Health.

Their cooperation will primarily focus on addressing medicine shortages, parallel trade, reimbursement issues, the marketing of medical devices, and pharmaco-economic evaluation of health technologies, it said.

During their meeting in Slovakia, the ministers also discussed cross-border cooperation in emergency medical services and emphasised the importance of enabling the cross-border exchange of e-prescriptions between the two countries.

Valek noted that patients can currently use a Czech e-prescription to obtain medicines in Poland, Croatia, Spain, Estonia, and Latvia. The Czech Republic is working to expand this capability to other countries as well, he said.

"We would greatly welcome Slovakia's participation in the cross-border exchange of e-prescriptions. 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," Valek said in the statement.

They also discussed the impact of national measures on the availability of medicines across the European Union (EU).

According to the Czech Ministry of Health, certain EU member states, particularly Germany, have implemented unilateral national measures to ensure sufficient medicine supplies. These actions "may have a negative impact on the availability of medicines" in the Czech Republic and other member states.