Professor Michael Barry:

I do not think I was around for the 2018 meeting. The Deputy makes a good point. This issue of EMA approval is important, particularly when looking at cancer drugs and drugs for rare diseases. Not all drugs approved by the European Medicines Agency, especially cancer drugs, will prolong life and not all of them will improve the quality of life. We see this time and time again. Only a third of cancer drugs that are approved this year, and many of them are drugs for rare diseases too, will prolong life. Less than that, 25%, will improve quality of life. The concept of EMA approval and then reimbursing, in my view, is not quite as simple.