Access to Biomedical Innovation


Biological drugs are the present and future of treatment for many serious diseases. How these diseases impact society’s health and wellbeing clearly depends on whether patients have access to these innovative drugs.

Acceso a la innovación biomédica

In Spain, access to biomedical innovation ca not come at the expense of the sustainability of the national healthcare system, but we must incentivize and allow the industry to maintain R&D investment levels despite the high technological risk and long, costly development processes.

At Asebio, we believe firmly in public-private partnership, understand we are jointly responsible for the sustainability of the national healthcare system, and contribute to the debate by proposing new funding methods and reimbursement models that allow us to tackle the challenges we are faced with.

These new formulas have to adapt to the specific needs of each condition and environment, helping pave the way to market for new therapeutic solutions. Some of these proposals include:

  • Funding methods in line with European trends, identifying best practices from other countries that can be implemented in our national healthcare system
  • Indication-specific pricing, assigning a different price to different indications of a drug, depending on its potential value
  • Payment for performance, dividing the cost of drugs between the national healthcare system and the owner, depending on the results
  • Combining different funding models to improve conditions while ensuring the sustainability of the national healthcare system
  • Speeding up access to drugs for unmet needs, especially for rare diseases, simplifying the process for new treatments

To help implement these measures, at Asebio we follow the regulatory processes that have an impact on the sector and submit appeals and proposals to have the regulations include ways to make it easier for healthcare innovations to reach the national healthcare system.

Regulations that govern funding and set prices for drugs and healthcare products are particularly important for the sector, as they can be an incentive or a barrier to new solutions reaching the market. For Asebio, regulations must foster R&D and include transparent criteria that make the sector more consistent, giving price-setting and funding conditions and processes legal security and stability, with innovative drugs reaching the market within reasonable time periods.
Additionally, it is essential to empower patients by giving them the training and information they need to make informed decisions about their healthcare treatment and live with their medical conditions (IAPO, International Alliance Patients Organizations).

This is why, at Asebio we work with the National School of Public Health (ENS) and the European Patients’ Academy (EUPATI) to train and inform patients on topics like:

-    Biotechnology and therapeutic innovation
-    Biological drugs
-    Drug development
-    Position papers on therapies