A group of EU member states has written to the European Commission saying that an exclusivity voucher scheme intended to stimulate R&D into new antimicrobials will stifle innovation by competitor companies and push up costs for national health systems.

As Europe’s health emergency body HERA approaches its first anniversary, an unprecedented range of stakeholders including industry bodies will be meeting in December to discuss HERA’s achievements, while a separate event will showcase the next generation of vaccines for COVID-19 and other infections.

The European health commissioner has told members of parliament that a balance needs to be struck between promoting innovation and maximizing access to medicines across the EU member states.

Hot on the heels of its new antimalarial strategy, the World Health Organization has given a “strong” recommendation for the use of a fixed-dose artemisinin combination therapy from Shin Poong and the Medicines for Malaria Venture that should see it being more widely used in disease-endemic countries.

The latest initiative under the UK’s Life Sciences Vision is intended to fund the development of innovative treatments while saving the National Health Service “millions of pounds.”

New, more flexible regulatory approaches will be needed to deal with the integrated therapies coming through company pipelines, and the European Medicines Agency should play a “key orchestrating role” in smoothing the way, says Sabine Atzor, Roche’s head of EU regulatory policies.