The Beneluxa Initiative - Policy brief WHO

Abstract

While there are improvements in creating innovative therapies, especially for less common/rare diseases, the prices of these kinds of pharmaceuticals are high. This makes it more difficult for national authorities to decide how to price and reimburse these. To make these pharmaceuticals more accessible for patients in small countries, collaboration could be of great help. One of the initiatives that tries to incorporate collaboration to create better and affordable access to high quality treatments is the Beneluxa Initiative. The Beneluxa Initiative is a collaboration between Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, and Ireland, that was established in 2015. The goal of the Beneluxa Initiative is to establish sustainable and affordable access to high-quality treatments and promote the responsible use of medicines, focusing mainly on highly priced pharmaceuticals. This is achieved through collaboration in four areas: horizon scanning (HS), information sharing and policy exchange, health technology assessment (HTA), and pricing and reimbursement. There are more European collaborations that perform the same or comparable activities to ensure better healthcare in their countries. One important similarity is that they all focus on more transparency on information surrounding prices and policies between the countries. The Beneluxa Initiative faces challenges due to legal and political differences. However, it offers a promising framework for international healthcare cooperation, with probable strengths in collaboration, transparency, and improved access to medicines.