It has been a busy year for the team at Medicines for Ireland as the representative body has worked to safeguard access to medicines, advancing medicines repurposing, ensured uninterrupted supply of medicine between Ireland and the UK and carried out research into the generics market. We spoke to David Delaney, Head of Policy and Market Access for Europe with Viatris and Chair of the EU Affairs Committee, Medicines for Ireland about the key challenges with regards to medicines access and equality. David leads advocacy at the European Parliament and Trade Committees for MFI and as a Board member of Medicines for Europe.
David helps manage the MFI relationship with Ireland’s Department of Health, other Government Departments, regulators and media on key industry related matters. Towards the end of last year, David was an invited live speaker at Ireland’s National Parliament Seanad (Senate) Special Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU. The industry group has warned that imminent regulatory requirements threaten medicine supplies from Britain to Northern Ireland. The Brexit agreement for Northern Ireland, designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, leaves Northern Ireland within the EU’s regulatory system for pharmaceuticals. The Northern Ireland Protocol states that the “marketing authorisation holder” – the company or other legal entity authorised to market a product – for any medicines sold in Northern Ireland must be in the EU, the European Economic Area or Northern Ireland but not in Britain.
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