The European Union Joint Procurement Agreement for cross-border health threats: what is the potential for this new mechanism of health system collaboration?

Abstract

The Joint Procurement Agreement (JPA) is an innovative instrument for multi-country procurement of medical countermeasures against cross-border health threats. This paper aims to assess its potential performance. A literature review was conducted to identify key features of successful joint procurement programmes. Documentary analysis and a key informants' interview were carried out to analyse the European Union (EU) JPA. Ownership, equity, transparency, stable central financing, standardisation, flexibility and gradual development were identified as important prerequisites for successful establishment of multi-country joint procurement programmes in the literature while security of supply, favourable prices, reduction of operational costs and administrative burden and creation of professional expert networks were identified as desirable outcomes. The EU JPA appears to fulfil the criteria of ownership, transparency, equity, flexibility and gradual development. Standardisation is only partly fulfilled and central EU level financing is not provided. Security of supply is an important outcome for all EU Member States (MS). Price savings, reduction in administrative burden and creation of professional networks may be particularly attractive for the smaller MS. The JPA has the potential to increase health system collaboration and efficiency at EU level provided that the incentives for sustained commitment of larger MS are sufficiently attractive.

El coste de vacunar a lo largo de toda la vida en España

“…Un estudio que evaluó el coste de la vacunación a lo largo de toda la vida en distintos países en Europa occidental, incluyendo España (6) , obtuvo en sus resultados un coste superior al encontrado en este trabajo, con grandes diferencias en el coste total en hombres y mujeres (921 euros para hombres y 1.339 euros para mujeres). Esta discrepancia puede deberse a que los autores utilizaron como precios de referencia para España los que figuran en el Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos, que son superiores a los obtenidos por la Administración sanitaria en nuestro país (35,36) . El cálculo para las personas de grupos de riesgos plantea varias dificultades inherentes a la variabilidad de los individuos que los conforman.…”

The ‘Netflix plus model’: can subscription financing improve access to medicines in low- and middle-income countries?

“…Joint procurement of pharmaceuticals has demonstrated effectiveness for advance purchasing and cross-border threats, specifically in Europe and South America (Azzopardi-Muscat et al ., 2017). Regional collaboratives in both high- and low-income countries have achieved promising results; incentivising pharmaceutical competition and decreasing prices.…”

“…Regional collaboratives in both high- and low-income countries have achieved promising results; incentivising pharmaceutical competition and decreasing prices. Participating countries pay the same price regardless of population, market size or development (Azzopardi-Muscat et al ., 2017). In turn, this may reduce the ability of firms to leverage differential prices across markets, through equity or Ramsey pricing.…”

While We Are Waiting for the Superbug: Constitutional Asymmetry and EU Governmental Policies to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

“…Different initiatives have recently been taken in this respect. In 2019 the Romanian presidency in the Council addressed this problem (Council of the European Union, 2019) and the EU has increased efforts to develop types of procurement arrangements that may increase the ability for member states to act together when specific medical initiatives due to more acute health threats are needed (Azzopardi‐Muscat et al, 2017). These arrangements could be highly relevant, for example, in connection with the outbreak of specific resistant bacteria in Europe.…”