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August 06, 2007
Importation and Pricing Issues Not Limited to the US
Drug importation from Canada remains a hot topic in the US pharmaceutical and public policy sectors, but has subsided somewhat since the introduction of Medicare Part D brought domestically acquired medications within reach of millions of elderly patients who found them difficult to attain previously. Manitoba, for instance, once had most of Canada's 50 to 60 internet pharmacies but is now down to 11.
PharmaTimes reports on two stories which indicate that drug companies would be wise to keep their attention on pricing and drug importation issues for a little longer even if the continental focus has shifted somewhat. First, the United Kingdom's Department of Health on the 3rd of August signaled its intent to revisit the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, originally developed in 2004 and anticipated to last through this decade. According to the Office of Fair Trade a few months ago, the former system, which capped profit on drugs and provided price-cuts to the government, did not properly take into account the efficacy of the drug with respect to its price, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars of waste. Both sides are approaching the issue with caution, but it's possible that pharmaceutical companies serving the United Kingdom will leave with a deal less satisfactory than the one they currently have.
Separately, the European Commission has launched a "broad public debate" on pharmaceuticals, hoping to ensnare the opinions of small and medium enterprises in the pharmaceutical sector. Specifically, they're looking to improve the safety of EU drugs (preventing counterfeits getting inside of the supply chain) and reducing needless regulatory barriers which prevent some drugs from even making it to smaller countries at all. "The lack of transparency and harmonisation with regard to pricing, reimbursement and relative effectiveness remains a challenge, it emphasises," PharmaTimes reports.
It's as least as much of a challenge for the pharmaceutical industry as it is for the European governments, and even with the attention given the issue by the EC, it's unlikely to subside anytime soon. In the mean time, it seems like their focus will be on Britain, where they'll need all the luck they can get.
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Posted by Jeremy Spivey at August 6, 2007 11:01 AM