Stakeholders show interest in medicines data repository

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, together with the Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea, organised a stakeholder event on 15 April 2025 where the national medicines data repository currently under development was showcased. The event was specifically intended for users of the medicines data repository’s information products and user interfaces, and more than 160 people were present. 

When opening the event, Heidi Tahvanainen from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health noted that the development of medicines-related matters was continuous work that goes beyond government terms and will now be continued as part of the Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacy Economy project.

“The aim of the work is to improve the health and functional capacity of the population and the effectiveness, equality and availability of pharmacotherapy,” summarised Tahvanainen. 

“A gateway to reliable medicines data” 

Piia Rannanheimo, Chief Specialist at Fimea, spoke about the objectives and schedule of the project.

“The medicines data repository will be a gateway to reliable and high-quality data on medicines. The medicines data repository compiles pharmaceutical information in a single location for easy and versatile use. In this way, we can support the implementation of pharmacotherapy and ensure the safe and economic treatment,” Rannanheimo emphasised. 

The medicines data repository will improve the cost-effectiveness of pharmacotherapies and increase the prescribing and use of medicines based on research data.  

“The aim is also to bring more clarify to information management processes, reduce manual work and improve data interoperability,” said Rannanheimo.  

The data repository will include information products suitable for the needs of users and a medicines search shared by all authorities. The data repository can be used by parties such as medicine users, doctors and nurses, pharmacies or commercial operators, such as information system developers. 

Stakeholders have high expectations 

Participants believed that the greatest benefits of the medicines data repository would be that data, which is currently scattered, would be collected in a single location and the data would be kept up-to-date and reliable. And that the data could easily be integrated into, for example, patient data and pharmacy systems. Participants expressed that they would like for the project to ensure smooth data transfers and for the information to be made available for use in a structured manner. It was also thought to be important that different user groups are taken into consideration in the data repository’s user interfaces. In addition, stakeholders hoped that they would be able to be actively involved in the development.  

Project planning and the preparation of the implementation plan are under way in the development of the medicines data repository. The development is coordinated by Fimea, which will also be the authority responsible for the data repository. The work will be carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the Pharmaceuticals Pricing Board (Hila). The first sections of the medicines data repository are expected to be available in 2027.

More information

Ministry of Social Affairs and Health press release: The centralised medicines data repository facilitates the implementation and monitoring of pharmacotherapy (in Finnish)

Fimea press release: Development of the national medicines data repository has been launched