Around 50 guests attended the fifth Pharma CEO Breakfast, organized by the Budapest Business Journal in partnership with Phoenix Pharma and Benu, at the Kimpton BEM Budapest Hotel on Tuesday, October 7.

The event featured a keynote presentation by Dr. Ágnes Galgóczi, director of prevention and epidemiology at the National Public Health Center, entitled “The Introduction of Pharmacy-based Vaccinations and Related Opportunities for Expanding the Scope of Services in the Hungarian Pharmacy Sector. She was then joined for an in-depth roundtable discussion to drill down deeper into the details alongside Dr. Judit Bidló, Deputy State Secretary for the Professional Management of Health; Dr. András Süle, chief pharmacist at Péterfy Hospital Budapest; and Dr. Katalin Szalóki, CEO of the Association of Innovative Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (AIPM) Hungary. 

Robin Marshall, editor-in-chief of the BBJ, moderated the conversation.

Key takeaways included that a thorough framework must be drawn up before a rollout can begin, although Hungarian pharmacy associations are already working on this in the background. However, there is now a clear European trend towards expanding pharmacy service provision, meaning that Hungary can already draw on best practices. Importantly, the system will need to be voluntary, rather than imposed, but a first-phase rollout could take between six and 18 months. Crucial will be who pays for what and when (equally valid for pharmacies and patients), and how it all connects to digital healthcare; an initial starting point might be a fee-for-service approach. Given the alarming drop-off in vaccination rates among adults, expanding the base of professionals able to administer them could help increase both uptake and trust in healthcare, as well as raise esteem in the pharmacist profession through the addition of value-added services. 

The keynote and roundtable were bookended by networking for like-minded stakeholders drawn from across Hungary’s pharmaceutical sector to exchange ideas and information.

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