Post by Zentiva

Clean water matters. So does access to medicines. The EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) introduces an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme that would allocate at least 80% of the costs of a new, innovative wastewater treatment to pharmaceutical and cosmetic producers, even though micropollutants originate from a wide range of sources. With national implementation underway, the current framework risks significant consequences for affordable medicine and irreversible damage to medicine availability. Generics account for ~70% of medicines dispensed in Europe and 9 out of 10 medicines on the EU list of critical medicines. Manufacturers operate under strict price regulation and cannot simply raise prices to absorb additional costs due to statutory price/reimbursement controls.   When disproportionate costs are imposed on essential medicines, supply becomes economically unviable and patients ultimately pay the price. Environmental protection and public health must go hand in hand. One should not be sacrificed for the other.   That’s why Zentiva - together with other off‑patent medicines companies - has filed an appeal before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to enable substantive judicial review of the Directive’s key provisions. #PatientAccess #GenericMedicines #PublicHealth #UWWTD #Sustainability #Healthcare #HealthForAll