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Delegates from drug regulatory authorities around the world discussed the key changes and current priorities in the regulatory environment at the 18th International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities (ICDRA), which took place from Monday 3 September to Friday 7 September 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. The Ukrainian delegation was headed by Roman Ilyk, deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine.

"The transformation of the Ukrainian healthcare system is a complex process, but we have already achieved the first positive results. The international community notices the changes we have been implementing in Ukraine in the past 2 years, and we can now discuss our next steps. Along with the development of the reimbursement program, the National List of Essential Medicines, the Ministry's strategic plans provide for the establishment of the national Agency for Health Technology Assessment and the implementation of e-prescribing. These are the priority areas the world community supports and promotes in different countries. Undoubtedly, Ukraine is on the right track," noted Roman Ilyk, deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine.

The ICDRA Conference participants agreed that the overall availability and accessibility of medicines has improved worldwide. The next step is to improve the post-market surveillance in pharmaceutical regulation, which is currently a top priority for all countries.

One of the current key priorities in the regulatory environment to which the attention of the Conference participants was drawn concerned the provision of accurate and up-to-date information on medicinal products, which is essential for both patients and healthcare professionals. Today, new electronic technologies play an important role in ensuring access to all data on medicinal products.

The third area of focus for the international community is patient education. We should develop user-friendly resources and explain to patients how to use them to find infromation about the latest innovations, the results of clinical trials of a particular medicines, etc. This will allow patients to check information about a particular medicine and to make an informed decision about whether to take it.

"The discussion participants drew particular attention to the importance of the selection of essential medicines for priority diseases. This issue is obviously important not only to Ukraine, given its financially constrained public health funding system, but also to many countries with the ever-increasing amounts of funding to the health sector. Therefore, I would like to suggest that this is the most important task for regulatory authorities around the world - we must protect and improve the health and well-being of all citizens, and set the right priorities to reduce risks of diseases, to prevent complications and premature deaths. By comparing different treatment methods and ensuring careful selection and use of essential medicines, we will make an important step towards rational use of medicines procured for the funds allocated from the state budget," underlined Roman Ilyk.