Health Minister Chris Fearne has insisted Europe should strive to ensure there is price transparency when dealing with pharmaceuticals to ensure every country gets "a fair deal".

Speaking as one of the panelists during a webinar by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Fearne argued that in today's world, transparency and accountability of those in power are crucial and this should therefore also apply to the pharmaceutical industry. 

Instead of blindly negotiating, Fearne said, countries should be able to do so knowing what price others are paying. This, he said, is also the first step towards successful joint procurement - the process of countries coming together and combining procurement efforts to ensure fairer contracts for all.

"Price transparency and the process of setting prices are crucial. We found we could not negotiate unless we knew each other's prices.  

"It works. We've done this with the COVID-19 vaccine. I am absolutely sure that had we negotiated alone, as a small country in 2020 when the vaccines were more desirable than gold, we would not have got the prices we got, and we would not have had the same accessibility," Fearne said.

This is not the first time the minister has spoken out at EU level on the matter, having raised the issue in the past and arguing that the European Commission should administer a permanent mechanism for better joint procurement.

"What we are saying is that we all want to have a fair deal, a fair price," Fearne said. 

Back in 2019, Malta got together with nine other countries and signed the Valletta Declaration, aimed at lobbying big pharma for better deals.  

The countries, Fearne said, do "informally" share information between them but a more structured, Europe-wide mechanism is still needed.

Countries entering into purchase agreements with large pharmaceutical companies often sign non-disclosure agreements that bar them from sharing pricing information with other member states.