Pharmaceutical industry: Murky medicines

Major analysis feature. A ‘parallel trade’ in drugs pitches dealers against wholesalers and multinationals.

While the trade in medicines, without the authorisation of the producer, to exploit price differences between countries is perfectly legal, it has come in for growing criticism for undermining innovation, patient health and affordable access to treatments. It has pitched the traders against pharmacists, wholesalers and multinational pharmaceutical groups.

At stake in this cross-border 'parallel trade' is the tension between the fundamental principle of free movement of goods across the EU, enshrined in the treaty of Rome to encourage competition, and the exception of medicines prices, which are not freely set by companies but instead normally dictated by each national government.

ESO: Background information: European drug groups fear parallel trade http://www.europeansources.info/record/european-drug-groups-fear-parallel-trade/

European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) http://www.efpia.eu/

EAASM: Counterfeit medicines: Parallel trade in Europe http://www.eaasm.eu/parallel-trade-in-europe

All-Party Pharmacy Group http://www.appg.org.uk/

Website: British Independent Pharmacy and Wholesale Association (BIPWA) http://www.bipwa.co.uk/en/home

European Association of Euro-Pharmaceutical Companies http://www.eaepc.org/

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