EuroDURG 2025 is underway in Uppsala • “Best possible start”

In the wake of a global pandemic and countless crises and conflicts, an increasing number of countries experience how a shortage of drugs is becoming an acute challenge. Now measures are needed to ensure equal access to and more effective drug treatments, and Wednesday 2 July, more than 300 of the world's leading experts in the field gathered in the Uppsala University Grand Auditorium for EuroDURG 2025.

“We stealthily started the program yesterday with six educational sessions that were both well-attended and highly appreciated. Today we are gearing up to full scale with participants from five continents, and it is quite amazing to see so many new and familiar colleagues on site. Now intense days await, but we can already state that Uppsala is at its most beautiful, that our students are contributing with invaluable efforts and that EuroDURG 2025 is off to the best possible start,” says Björn Wettermark, Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology.

First to enter the podium was Björn Eriksson, Director General of the National Board of Health and Welfare, who in his presentation Equal access to medicines in Europe: An reachable goal or a dream? presented the main features of the Council of the European Union's highly topical Pharma Package, the proposals for a regulation and directive that, through, among many things, regulatory data and market protection and the obligation to supply, aim to make the EU’s pharmaceutical sector more fair and competitive.

“This conference is at the absolute highest level and it is inspiring to see representatives from nearly 40 countries prioritize traveling to Sweden and Uppsala to participate in the unique forum that EuroDURG provides. I also want to highlight the very impactful program that I am convinced will add great value to our work to optimize access to drugs and how we use society's resources,” states Björn Eriksson.

The scientific program at EuroDURG 2025 offers 5 workshops, 14 keynote speakers and 36 research presentations. The agenda embraces both opportunities and challenges, highlighting the full distance from the role of AI in improved utilization of drugs and pharmaceuticals environmental impact to OECD's work to provide evidence and data as support for political decisions.

“To achieve the best possible drug utilization is an important goal in healthcare, and at EuroDURG 2025 we highlight how both data, policies and the patient's perspective can contribute. That our conferences also attract this well-balanced and global mix of researchers, experts and policymakers provides exactly the dynamic environment we need to take further steps in the right direction,” says Sabine Vogler, Director of WHO's Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies & Chair of the conference's Scientific Committee.

EuroDURG 2025 also constitutes an important step in the university's interdisciplinary investment in improving the use of drugs, where the Faculty of Pharmacy since 2020 has consolidated its research in pharmacoepidemiology, social pharmacy and clinical pharmacy. After a successful start, the environment is now set to expand its global networks, and the ambition is that the conference will open new doors to Europe and the world, enabling both important knowledge exchanges and more far-reaching scientific collaborations.

“EuroDURG is without a doubt the world's best meeting place for everyone working with a focus to improve drug utilization, and we have traveled from Brazil to Sweden to present and experience current research. For us, this conference is a perfect arena to build networks and lay the foundation for new collaborations, where we look forward to fruitful conversations with, among many, Uppsala University's research environment in pharmacoepidemiology,” states Claudia Garcia Serpa Osorio-de-Castro, researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.

Text & photo: Magnus Alsne