In the EU and across the world, advancing access to medicines and education on therapeutic areas are critical to the strength and sustainability of our healthcare systems. Too often we see that those living with acute conditions and chronic diseases face substantial barriers that prohibit them from accessing medicines that are essential to their quality of life.

Consider allergies – one of Europe’s most common chronic conditions, with 150 million sufferers in the EU.⁷ This public health threat of pandemic proportions can trigger anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that can prove fatal within minutes. Timely and widely available emergency access to adrenaline-auto-injectors (AAIs) in public spaces such as schools could effectively save lives when every second counts – similar to how public access to defibrillators can treat those suffering from a cardiac arrest –but currently, this treatment is not equally accessible in Europe.

Likewise, rising levels of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) are alarming –By 2050, it is estimated that AMR will be responsible for up to 10 million deaths annually, and result in $1 trillion in additional healthcare costs⁸. And there is also inequity in access to treatments for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which are responsible for 80% of the disease burden in Europe⁹. These examples further reinforce the critical need to advance access and stewardship of medicines in the EU.

At the same time, the UN and WHO report that progress on SDG target 3.4, aimed at reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by a third by 2030, is insufficient¹⁰. NCDs, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, remain leading causes of death globally, now accounting for over 70% of deaths. Despite some strides, the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and other challenges have slowed down improvements in health outcomes, including mental health, which continues to be underfunded and inadequately addressed worldwide.

Our commitment:

At Viatris, we believe that every person deserves to live healthier at every stage of life, and that strengthening and advancing healthcare system capabilities across the EU is vital to more effective and equitable delivery of care.

We play our part through our broad reach and expertise across a wide range of therapeutical areas, in particular:

• Driving wider access for allergy sufferers: We supply vital treatments to allergy sufferers across Member States and support wider availability and utilization of emergency treatments for anaphylaxis in public places as well as the harmonization of regulations across the continent and EU-wide recommendations on broader access to help minimize risks and mortalities.
• Combatting antimicrobial resistance (AMR): We stand at the forefront of the battle against AMR, making a significant contribution with over 90 microbials in our global portfolio, including older antibiotics that can be valuable in treating resistant bacteria. We are also a founding member of the AMR Industry Alliance (AMRIA), partnering across industry to collectively advance initiatives for addressing AMR.
• Relieving the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs): With our broad and diverse treatment options for NCDs, we are working to improve the prevention and treatment of NCDs. Alongside our expertise areas, at Viatris we know that health systems can only function with the support of health workers. That’s why we invest in and engage in healthcare professionals (HCP) outreach and education across Europe, clear in our understanding that supporting their continued education will help us to overcome barriers to equitable access to care.

Our recommendations:

Successfully tackling chronic conditions and rising incidents of AMR in the EU requires a multi-pronged approach involving the following considerations:

Combatting allergies and severe allergies reactions (anaphylaxis):

• Promote allergy and anaphylaxis awareness: Awareness campaigns and patient educational campaigns should be promoted regionally and nationally to improve management of allergies and anaphylaxis and timely access to life-saving treatment.
• Make AAIs consistently available in schools for emergency situations: One key aspect of effective food allergy and anaphylaxis management is the availability of AAIs in schools, where the risk of reactions could be higher. But there is a huge gap between EU Member States in emergency access in schools. This can be covered by concrete action at the European level to harmonize access to AAIs in emergency situations, allowing schools to have stock on hand and safeguard the lives of children.
• Allow organizations to hold emergency medicines for general use, specifically AAIs: To minimize the number of deaths by anaphylaxis in Europe, we support the development of Europeanlevel guidance on the possibility of storage of specific emergency medications (including AAIs) in places like colleges, workplaces, transportation and sports venues. This should be a voluntary arrangement.
• Create and promote EU-wide evidence-based guidelines for managing food allergies and anaphylaxis including emergency use of AAIs in public places: EU-wide adoption of comprehensive guidelines on food allergy and anaphylaxis covering diagnosis, treatment, management in the community (including access to AAIs for emergency use) and prevention that embraces different stakeholders is essential.

Combatting antimicrobial resistance (AMR):

• Collaboration: Addressing AMR requires a collective effort from many stakeholders. No single actor can solve it alone. Governments can help by joining surveillance networks, sharing data, and supporting global supply chains to maintain access to essential medicines.
• Access: Ensuring a wide range of antibiotics is available is crucial for effective treatment. However, some antibiotics face price reductions that make production unviable, leading to shortages. Policymakers can support a sustainable market for older antibiotics via application of new pricing models to avoid supply disruptions.
• Stewardship: Antibiotics are often misused, including when being taken for viral infections. Healthcare providers and patients need to be better informed on when and how to use antibiotics properly. Raising awareness about proper disposal can also help reduce environmental impact.
• Proactive infection prevention: Improving hospital infection control, sanitation, and increasing vaccination rates, especially for seasonal flu, can reduce infections and the need for antibiotics, slowing AMR development.

Relieving the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs):

• Address health inequities across Europe and within countries. Population-wide programs specifically designed to help countries and regions to overcome these inequities should be prioritized. Continuous monitoring, specific policies at the EU-level as well as harmonized data registries in the Member States, could help to identify and effectively address inequalities.
• Improving therapeutic adherence: In Europe, non-adherence is responsible for €125 billion in excess healthcare spending.¹¹ Lawmakers should acknowledge the therapeutic adherence gap as an unmet medical need of patients in Europe, and support implementation of dose dispensing.