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CAM Interest Group meeting on availability of medicinal products

CAM Interest Groupt meeting in Brussels

CAM Interest Groupt meeting in Brussels

EUAA representative Madan Thangavelu joined the meeting, 1 July 2015, of the CAM Interest Group in the European Parliament (EP), an informal group of Members of the European Parliament with a special interest in Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

The event at was hosted and chaired by MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen (Finland) to discuss the “availability of CAM medicinal products in the EU” and in particular the implications of points and comments in the Matrix Report about the availability of medicinal products for human use (see PDF file).

There were five presentations at the event:

  1. Introduction: CAM – its current state-of-play in Europe
    [Ton Nicolai MD, EUROCAM spokesman/coordinator]
  2. European citizens – the patients’ demand for CAM medicinal products
    [Rene de Winter MA, President European Federation of Patients’ Associations for Anthrosophic Medicine]
  3. Herbal medicinal products (e.g. Western, TCM and Ayurvedic)
    • General comments with reference to the Matrix report
      [Herbert Schwabl PhD, Board member DaKoMed – Swiss Umbrella Organisation of Complementary Medicine]
    • The situation in the United Kingdom
      [Michael McIntyre, Chair, European Herbal & Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association, Visiting Professor, Middlesex University, UK]
  4. Homeopathic medicinal products – with reference to the Matrix report
    [Stephen Gordon MCH RSHom FSHom, General Secretary, European Central Council of Homeopaths]
  5. Anthroposophic medicinal products – with reference to the Matrix report
    [Madeleen Winkler MD, Vice-President, International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations (IVAA)]

A very lively discussion followed the presentations with contributions from Dr. Ciarán Nicholl, Head of the Public Health Policy Support Unit in the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (JRC-IHCP), Ispra, Italy; Michael McIntyre and EUAA (Madan Thangavelu).

Dr. Ciarán Nicholl acknowledged that he supported the call and the need for better appreciation of CAM and its many modalities and its benefits – particular for cancer patients.

Prof. Michael McIntyre took us down memory lane as one having seen this activity in the Commission grow over two decades including the shaping of present day directives. “In two decades from now, be assured that CAM and it allied activities will be the mainstream medical practice,” Michael MicIntyre concluded.

EUAA’s (Madan Thangavelu) call was three-fold:

  1. The need to recognize patient experience of CAM treatment outcomes and for these to be considered more seriously, as within this is the basis of important aspects of personalized therapies of the future;
  2. To capture the vast experience of practitioners and thought leaders including the many members of EUROCAM organisations and in particular the ones in the room and finally,
  3. To developed a neutral, unbiased, prejudice-free space where the stakeholders and interest groups can meet to discuss and detail activities and agendas for the future.

All of these suggestions were accepted by the Chair as meaningful and major outcomes of this gathering. The JRC-Ispra as a possible venue for such an event or series of events was generally accepted as a good way forward and an excellent outcome by all gathered in the room.

The event was well attended with a total of 33 individuals – filling to capacity the room that was offered for the meeting in the European Parliament. After the formal close of the meeting several one-to-one meetings and informal interactions followed.

A detailed report of the event is now available at the EUROCAM web site.