Row erupts over Juncker’s proposal to shift oversight of pharma

Jean-Claude Juncker’s decision to move oversight of the pharmaceutical industry back to DG Enterprise after just one term under the remit of the health directorate DG Sanco, sparked the inevitable row at the European Ombudsman’s “International Right to Know Day” at the European Parliament on Monday.

The epidemiologist and transparency campaigner Ben Goldacre, author of the best-selling ‘Bad Pharma’, said the proposed move, “looks incredibly seedy.”

“I think we should be in no doubt that this is very dangerous for public health. Doctors and patients have to feel trust in the decisions of regulators,” Goldacre said.

But Richard Bergström, the director general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), denied leaning on Juncker. “We have not lobbied on how to organise these units. It would have been stupid for me to express this view,” he said.

"We suggested that the Commission should develop an integrated strategy for life sciences,” said Bergström. It makes sense for this strategy to be the responsibility of a single directorate rather than spread around different units.

Big pharma, big gripes

However, many feel the switch plays straight into the hands of big pharma.  Emma Woodford, Interim Secretary-general of the European Public Health Alliance, said Juncker is, “Returning this industry to an environment that favours profit and secrecy over universal access to medicines and transparency.”

Glenis Willmott, a British Labour member of the European Parliament, lambasted the move on her website as, “A bad decision from President Juncker. I hope he will quickly come to his senses and rectify it.”

Meanwhile, Jim Murray, a former director of BEUC, the European Consumers Organisations said it was, “A good day for the pharmaceutical industry, but a bad day for public health.”