Revolution under way as Web lures patients

Date: 06/01/2000

By Peter Chapman

THE EU's top drugs firms may be clamouring for changes to the Union's regulated medicine market, but Commission insiders and industry sources alike admit they could be powerless to turn the tide of the revolution sparked by the World Wide Web.

A five-minute surf on the Web reveals how far the Internet drugs market has already evolved.

A wealth of pharmacies, wholesalers and doctors' surgeries have sprung up to lure online shoppers. Many of these are based in the US, where regulations are far more liberal than in the EU, which bans Internet sales and advertisements.

On websites such as www.drugstore.com, surfers can get virtual consultations with medical professionals and be prescribed an online cure at the click of a mouse.

A favourite among Internet customers is the anti-impotence wonder drug Viagra, made by US giant Pfizer. But the company's Eva Grut says it has grave doubts over the way many sites are selling its product prior to any face-to-face contact between patients and medical experts. "Generally speaking, our view is that prescribing drugs over the Internet is not a good idea because you need to see the doctor. These are prescription drugs for a good reason," she explains.

Grut says the firm is "aggressively pursuing" rogue traders who are selling Viagra to anyone willing to send in their credit card details. But she adds that Pfizer would welcome a relaxation of some of the EU rules to allow it to sell drugs to customers with bona fide prescriptions. "Dispensing by mail order or the Internet does not pose such a big problem," she argues.

Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen recently announced plans to set up a special committee to debate the issue next month.

He insisted that existing EU rules "provided a clear basis to combat illegal practices in the Union", but admitted that the "global character of the Internet raises the question of how enforceable that legal framework is in practice".

The EU's top drugs firms may be clamouring for changes to the Union's regulated medicine market, but Commission insiders and industry sources alike admit they could be powerless to turn the tide of the revolution sparked by the World Wide Web.