Eucomed challenges "irrational" national decisions:

Six issues that have been identified as priorities by the Eucomed Legal Issues Group for 2005 include challenging irrational national reimbursement decisions as well as continuing scrutiny and understanding of national procurement practices. These reflect the mounting obstacles that industry still faces despite regulatory convergence. The other four issues are: late payments and what can be learnt from the Spanish and Italian approaches; new technologies - the need for appropriate regulatory mechanisms to avoid the inevitable drift towards inappropriate and expensive pharma-based systems; strategic future of regulation - reform of the Medical Devices Directive and related legislation; and analysis of the implications of EU horizontal measures.