The mission of the pharmaceutical industry is to further innovation and the development of therapies that meet existing needs in terms of treatments and the prevention of new diseases, and to make available medications that constitute an improvement in the health and life quality of the population.
APIFARMA, the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Industry Association, represents the shared views of its members – more than 100 companies that produce and import medicines for human use, vaccines and in vitro diagnostics. It also promotes high standards of the quality, safety and efficacy of the medications its members make, whilst at the same time advocating for a faster and more efficient drug authorisation system.
The association simultaneously supports policies of proximity with the patient, who is the prime target of its activity, furthers interaction with the scientific community, be it through the exchange of knowledge or conservation of the scientific heritage, and promotes a culture of environmental protection as a means of safeguarding public health.
To these ends, APIFARMA has sought to contribute, through proposals and measures, to creating the conditions necessary for guaranteeing the sustainability of the Portuguese health services and access for all Portuguese citizens to better healthcare, regardless of their socio-economic or geographic situation.
This work is based on three strategic axes. Firstly, contributing to the achievement of a national consensus on health through the approval of a “Law of Means” (Lei de Meios) that guarantees the sustainability of the Portuguese National Health System (SNS). Secondly, furthering access to innovation in health as a basis for progress, development and well-being for all Portuguese citizens. And thirdly, playing a decisive role in the defence and promotion of the social and economic dimension of health, promoting its cross-the-board potential for Portuguese society and its increasingly important impact.
The pharmaceutical industry is an area of economic activity that is recognised as having scientific and academic institutions and other organisations that are active in this area.
The Portuguese Pharmaceutical Industry Association has also developed policies of proximity with the community, making it possible to show Portuguese society how fundamentally important and strategic the pharmaceutical industry is to the country’s economic and social development.
The initiatives aimed at protecting the environment, furthering the quality of life of the patient, transparency in communication, as well as the actions of the sector together with its partners, have been wide-ranging – from promoting and disseminating good ethical practices to disseminating scientific work.
Participation, as a founding member in the social responsibility project Dignitude: abem, the aim of which is ensure access to medication for the most underprivileged in society; support for the Todos Por Quem Cuida [All Behind The Carers] initiative, a support fund for the purchase of hospital equipment, personal protection equipment and other material required by healthcare professionals in the COVID-19 pandemic frontline; contributions to Música nos Hospitais [Music in Hospitals], a music-based intervention project aimed at humanising healthcare situations; the cooperation protocol signed with the Journalists Club, the most visible initiative of which is the Journalism in Health Prize; by far the highest percentage of its profits invested in research and development. But we can aspire to even more by advancing the systems of incentives for and investment in research, while at the same time producing economic and social value. For this reason, APIFARMA has actively strengthened the role of public and private health agents in, and the real impact thereof on, the quality of life of Portuguese citizens and the country’s economy.
To this end, APIFARMA has committed itself to setting up the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB), a body whose mission it is to support, finance and promote clinical research and biomedical innovation through the development, internationalisation and sustained and cooperative progress of clinical investigation, while deepening the research and development activities and cooperation between healthcare facilities, participation in the Espaço Farmácia/Laboratório Saúde [Pharmacy/Laboratory Health Space] at KidZania and in the Health Museum; and commitment to the literacy in health programme Tratar de Mim [Taking Care of Myself]; all clearly reflect APIFARMA’s compromise with civil society.
One can also point to the pioneering role of APIFARMA and its members in approving internal conduct principles aimed at responsibly and transparently reconciling the relations with health professionals, i.e. doctors and pharmacists, and responsibility to the ill and to society.
APIFARMA, given its representativeness and the reach of its members’ activity, will continue to advocate for the resolution of shared problems, the social and economic development of the industry and the country, improved health in Portugal and better access to new therapies for all patients.
