When Innovation Doesn’t Reach Patients: The true cost of Europe’s access crisis is measured in lives
- NíoSync
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Despite Europe’s reputation for scientific leadership, the truth is that patients across the continent are waiting longer, and often in vain, for access to innovative medicines.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗡𝗼 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲
• Only 𝟰𝟲% 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 ever make it to patients across the EU. That’s less than half.
• On average, 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝟱𝟳𝟴 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 from EMA approval to national reimbursement - a year and a half of lost time for those in need. For patients with aggressive cancers or rare diseases, delays measured in months are not just statistics.
• The disparity between countries is widening and Ireland unfortunately is near bottom of the class.
• We often talk about access in terms of 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴. But for patients, every day without access can mean irreversable disease progression.
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗜𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴?
It’s not about science - the therapies exist. It’s not about safety - the EMA has done its job. The real culprits are fragmented
pricing and reimbursement (P&R) systems, HTA misalignment and duplication, slow initiation of reimbursement negotiations and budgetary de-prioritisation, particularly in smaller markets, despite patient need.
This is not inefficiency at the margins, it’s structural inertia, and patients are paying the price.
𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗜𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆.
At NíoSync, we’re focused on exactly this problem: providing solutions so that innovation doesn’t just sit on the shelf but reaches the people who need it most.
For smaller companies with a single asset, Europe is often an unassailable maze of country specific requirements and slow reimbursement processes which makes launching a single product prohibitively costly and complex. At NíoSync, we are building a platform with the scale, leverage, and intelligence to cut through this complexity, bringing life-saving medicines to patients in Europe.
Because innovation that patients can’t access is innovation wasted.
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