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 Bioethics as an invaluable component in today’s healthcare industry
EuropaBio created a Bioethics Working Group in 1998, which, with the aid of an external advisory group of experts in ethics, and the approval of the EuropaBio Board, published its “Core Ethical Values”, translated into 11 European languages (www.europabio.org).
EuropaBio believes that ethics are an integral component of doing business in healthcare and that society should be fully informed about the applications of the many new technologies in biomedicine today. EuropaBio believes that technologies per se are not controversial; however, their applications may be.
Therefore, the EuropaBio Working Group on Bioethics continues to be involved in the debate about issues such as gene therapy, xenotransplantation, genetic testing, patenting of genes, stem cells, therapeutic cloning and beneficiary patient access to life-saving medicines.
EuropaBio has published comprehensive and balanced position papers on such issues, taking input from other stakeholders into account.
EuropaBio Actions
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Strong advocacy for a more patient-oriented approach to EU regulation of biotech medicinal products (in accordance with Europabio’s newly adopted Patient Charter, please see inside back cover).
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Launch of a Patient Advisory Group.
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Direct advocacy in the Information to Patients Working Group of the Pharmaceutical Forum to support patients having access to good quality information about diseases and the medicines they take, and being able to be actively involved in decisions about their treatments.
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Continued active participation as a founding member of the European Partnership on Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA).
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Development and advocacy of biotech industry input into the European Commission’s review of the EU’s Directive on Animal Testing.
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Coordination of biotech expertise into current European Commission review of policies to address counterfeit medicines and parallel trade of biotech medicinal products within the EU.
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