European Society of Oncology Pharmacy
ESOP
The aim of ESOP is to support optimal treatment for cancer patients.
ID: 112006128054-87
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Olivér Várhelyi (Commissioner) and
8 Jan 2026 · Cancer treatment
Response to Evaluation and revision of the general pharmaceutical legislation
3 Nov 2023
ESOP Global: response to the new EU pharmaceutical legislation proposal The members of ESOP Global, who represent health care professionals from 67 countries worldwide including all countries inside the European Union, applaud the presented proposals for the new legislative pharmaceutical framework. The needs of our patients have been placed at the center of the revision. Moreover, the concerns expressed by us as oncology pharmacists have been addressed throughout the legal text. We fully support the committees endeavors to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance, to work towards equal access of all citizens across all member states to innovative treatment modalities, where in-hospital production can also play an important role, and to highlight unmet medical needs in both adult as well as pediatric patients. Furthermore, we are supportive of the proposed changes to make the pharmaceutical field more environmentally sustainable and to provide greater transparency to the public regarding public funding of medicine development and regarding drug shortages. Realizing that the extended mandate with respect to shortages to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not been in place for long, we are eager to collaborate with EMA to address drug shortages at their root causes. Especially regarding drug shortages, we need measures to be implemented with great urgency, as we continue to face unavailability of essential medicines that severely hamper the delivery of our care. Therefore, we assume the inclusion of the following bases for action: 1. Guaranteeing a seamless supply. Ultimately, this can only be ensured through European production facilities in which supply chains are made shorter and supply bottlenecks are minimized. 2. Ensuring social responsibility for our countries by maintaining or creating jobs in the broader field of healthcare and contributing to the protection of the population 3. The protection of the environment is not divisible; clean water and clean air cannot be limited to certain regions of the world, but must be guaranteed everywhere. 4. Socially acceptable pricing must be achieved through regulatory measures in relation to the markets. Finally, we are calling on the involved stakeholders who will work on the implementation of the new legal texts to involve patient representatives and health care professionals for assessing unmet medical needs. Only with the voices of patients and with the voices of those professionals who strive to provide these patients with optimal care on a daily basis, the highest unmet medical needs can be identified and defined. All the while the highest level of safety of patients should and will be guaranteed. We are committed to helping the European Union in the near future to ensure that the ambitions of the proposal will be upheld during the negotiation process that will follow and to provide input and insight in those areas where further work will be needed.
Read full responseResponse to A European Health Data Space
3 Feb 2021
The European Society of Oncology Pharmacy welcomes the start of the European Health Data Space and congratulates the European Commission for taking this ambitious step towards improving health care service delivery and outcomes for European citizens.
We would like to take this opportunity to express our hope that the European Health Data Space will address the needs of our oncology patients. Therefore, we would like to stress the need to incorporate input from patient advocacy groups and health care professionals at the highest level in setting up the Health Data Space. This approach will ensure that the Health Data Space will be trusted by the health-care community and patients, and that it will be able to provide answers to real needs of patients. We particularly envisage that the Health Data Space should be able to connect to databases that record the type and amount of medicines used and to be able to correlate such data with diagnosis as well as social status of patients. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the need for real-time big data accessibility to the forefront of our attention. In times where quick action is needed to ensure the continuance of cancer care, real-time data, for example on delayed screening and vaccination, interrupted treatment or reduced treatment, can aid in finding the best approach to mitigate the impact of a crisis, and to quickly build resources when back-logs occur. We therefore offer our help and support to the European Union in setting up the EU Health Data Space, and kindly ask if our Society can be included in the list of interested and relevant stakeholders.
Read full responseResponse to Pharmaceutical Strategy - Timely patient access to affordable medicines
29 Jun 2020
Comments on Pharma Strategy from the European Society of Oncology Pharmacy in the attached file
Read full responseMeeting with Annika Nowak (Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis)
12 Mar 2019 · Safety of medicines
Meeting with Vytenis Andriukaitis (Commissioner) and
7 Sept 2017 · Labelling of pharmaceutical packages