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Title Parallel Trade in Pharmaceuticals
Sub title Past and future scenarios
Author Faiz Kermani
Publication date October 2003
ISBN 0954112156
Pages 133
Price pdf £595   |   print £595 currency coverter link
Summary

Parallel trade or parallel importation is the cross-border trade in a particular product, through a route that the manufacturer may not have originally intended. As many manufacturers operate a system whereby they sell their products at different prices in different markets, there is an incentive for those wishing to reduce the costs of their purchases to seek these products from the lower-priced markets. As the demand for cheaper products has grown, parallel trade businesses have flourished. By sourcing products from lower-priced markets to sell to consumers in higher-priced markets, these companies can offer significant savings to consumers, who thereby have an alternative to the price that the product is being sold at in their country by the original manufacturer.

This, 60,000 word strategic management, publication provides the valuable market overview and data that all pharmaceutical companies will find essential in their business.

Understand the development in this fast-moving sector:
  • Examines the impact of forthcoming EU enlargement as a new source of cheaper product

  • Describes how high drug prices in the United States is opening up the potential for imports from Canada and Mexico

  • Asks whether parallel trade will become a global issue as countries like Kenya and the Philippines experiment

  • Discusses whether parallel imports are influencing big pharma’s R&D spend

  • Latest thinking on the exhaustion of intellectual property rights in international law


  • Comprehensive insight into the major issues including:
  • Why price differential is not the only factor that causes parallel trade

  • Case studies and descriptions of legal battles in the EU that have been fought over the last 30 years

  • Why EU legislation and governments encourage parallel imports

  • How the AIDS crisis has become the biggest issue for governments, ethical pharmaceutical companies and parallel traders alike

  • The WTO’s role and compulsory licensing

  • Economic arguments for and against the existence of parallel trade in pharmaceuticals

    Buy by the Slice
    Chapter 1. Background to Parallel Importation click here for more details pdf £203
    Chapter 2. Parallel Importation in Europe click here for more details pdf £257
    Chapter 3. Enlargement of the EU click here for more details pdf £32
    Chapter 4. Parallel Trade by Country & Significant Legal Battles click here for more details pdf £171
    Chapter 5. Parallel Importation Issues in a Global Context click here for more details pdf £86
    Chapter 6. Parallel Importation Outside Europe click here for more details pdf £160
    Chapter 7. Analyses of Parallel Importation click here for more details pdf £171
    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    Content

    Marketing Brochure
    View the marketing brochure (pdf)

    Executive Summary
    View the Executive Summary (pdf)

    Foreword

    Introduction

    1: Background To Parallel Importation

    The concept of parallel importation
    The view of pharmaceutical manufacturers
    The view of parallel importers
    Legalities of parallel trade
    Exhaustion of intellectual property rights
    Consumer views of intellectual property rights
    Repackaging and re-labelling of products
    The definition of price
    Consumers and pricing
    Therapeutic efficacy
    Second-generation products and price increases
    Influences on prices
    Pricing strategies and parallel imports
    Skimming
    Prestige pricing
    Penetration pricing
    Extinction pricing
    Pricing freedom
    Pricing differentials
    Differentials created by price discounts
    Price differentials resulting from variations in pricing regulations
    Creation of post-patent price differentials
    Pricing within a single price band
    Patents
    Strategies to extend effective patent life
    Cost containment and pharmaco-economics
    Generic drugs
    Parallel importation of generics
    Counterfeit products
    Internet trading

    2: Parallel Importation in Europe

    Introduction to European parallel trade issues
    The European pharmaceutical market
    European pharmaceutical spending controls
    Is spending really the issue?
    The EU
    History of the EU
    Philosophy of the EU
    The set-up of the EU
    EU law
    Primary legislation
    Secondary legislation
    Case law
    Decision making in the EU
    European integration
    The institutions of the EU
    The Court of Justice
    EU law and parallel importation
    The European Economic Area (EEA)
    The creation of the EEA
    EU enlargement and the EEA
    The euro
    The euro and the pharmaceutical industryThe value of parallel trade in Europe
    The legalities of parallel trade in the EU
    Pharmaceutical manufacturers and parallel trade
    Repackaging of parallel imports
    Protection of products from parallel importation
    Wholesalers in the EU
    European hospitals and parallel importer


    3: Enlargement of the EU

    EU expansion and the pharmaceutical market
    EU expansion and parallel trade – the view of the pharmaceutical industry


    4: Parallel Trade by Country & Significant Legal Battles

    The UK
    Parallel trade and the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS)
    Ireland
    France
    The Netherlands
    Germany
    Denmark
    Sweden
    Belgium
    Spain
    Italy
    Austria
    Switzerland
    Norway
    Future trends for parallel trade in Europe

    5: Parallel Importation Issues in a Global Context

    The pharmaceutical industry and globalisation
    Maximising revenue worldwide
    The World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its objectives
    Organisation of the WTO
    The WTO philosophy
    The WTO’s viewpoint on intellectual property rights
    Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
    Limitations of TRIPS and trade disputes
    The WTO and the access-to-medicines issue
    Possibilities for international parallel trade
    The concept of international exhaustion
    The WTO and parallel imports
    Exporting to the EU from outside Europe


    6: Parallel Importation Outside Europe

    Drug pricing in the US
    The views of the US pharmaceutical industry
    US political debates over pricing and parallel importation
    Canada
    Mexico
    Kenya and parallel trade
    Philippines
    US reaction to developments in the Philippines
    Singapore
    Discounted drugs in Taiwan
    Japan
    New Zealand
    Australia
    India
    The concept of compulsory licensing
    The grounds for using a compulsory licence
    The AIDS crisis
    HIV drug pricing becomes an issue
    South Africa and HIV drug pricing
    Brazil and HIV drug pricing
    Future implications of compulsory licensing
    Compulsory licensing in North America
    Compulsory licensing, parallel importation and unscrupulous traders

    7: Analyses of Parallel Importation

    Pharmaceutical R&D investment and parallel trade
    Innovation and new drug development
    Why intellectual property matters to pharmaceutical companies
    Consumer views
    Tax benefits on pharmaceutical R&D
    Parallel traders and pharmaceutical R&D ‘myths’
    Better management of R&D investment
    An economic viewpoint on parallel trade issues
    Market structure
    Demand elasticity
    Pricing regulations
    Competition policies
    Using parallel importation as a negotiation tool
    The process of parallel importation
    How to bring parallel imports to market
    The effect of parallel trade channels
    Defensive measures for parallel trade
    Conclusions


    References

    Parallel Trade Organisations

    List of Figures

    Figure 1.1 Fundamental reasons for parallel trade in the EU
    Figure 1.2 Breakdown of retail medicine price in Europe, 2000
    Figure 1.3 The global price corridor
    Figure 1.4 Estimates of annual cost of CHF treatment with ACE-inhibitors, 2000
    Figure 1.5 Average approval time for generic drugs according to the FDA
    Figure 1.6 Estimated European generics market by volume, 2000
    Figure 2.1 Breakdown of European pharmaceutical R&D
    Figure 2.2 Cost-containment strategies: price controls
    Figure 2.3 Cost-containment strategies: spending controls
    Figure 2.4 Cost-containment strategies: volume controls
    Figure 2.5 Informedica pricing analyses, 1998/99: Neoral treatment costs
    Figure 2.6 Informedica pricing analyses, 1998/99: AmBisome treatment costs
    Figure 2.7 Share of pharmaceutical parallel imports by value
    Figure 2.8 Share of parallel imports in total European pharmaceutical market sales (industry estimates, 2001)
    Figure 2.9 Parallel importation of Norvir, 1999
    Figure 2.10 Parallel importation of Epivir, 1999
    Figure 2.11 Parallel importation of Retrovir, 1999
    Figure 2.12 HIV drug prices, 1999
    Figure 4.1 Market share of parallel imports in Germany
    Figure 4.2 Factors influencing the future of parallel trade in Europe

    List of Tables

    Table 1.1 Price variations in the EU (public prices in euros)
    Table 1.2 Some parallel imports options offered to European hospitals in 1997
    Table 1.3 Types of prescription drugs
    Table 2.1 Market share of parallel imports in key European markets in selected years
    Table 2.2 Estimated penetration of parallel imports (%) in main importing states, 1999
    Table 2.3 Summary of pharmaceutical company options to counter parallel importing
    Table 2.4 Summary of what is permissible and not permissible for parallel importers repackaging an original manufacturer’s products in the EU Table 2.5 Summary of key European pharmaceutical parallel trade cases
    Table 4.1 Summary of parallel trade in the UK, 1997 and 2001


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    The Author
    Faiz Kermani holds a BSc in pharmacology with toxicology from King’s College London and a PhD in immunopharmacology from St Thomas’s Hospital, London. He has previously worked and published in various areas of medical research, both in academia and the pharmaceutical industry. He has worked as a research analyst for Informedica A/S, conducting research into European pricing strategies and parallel importation, and has also worked for CMR International, examining R&D productivity and regulatory issues for major pharmaceutical companies.


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