The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7223 p665
9 November 2002

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Europe to block re-importation of medicines destined for Third World

It will soon be a crime to re-import into Europe medicines sold cheaply to developing countries to treat AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis or malaria.

A draft European regulation (PDF 205K), expected to become law by the end of the year, will allow manufacturers of both branded and generic medicines to make protected sales to specified countries of specially marked products at either 80 per cent off the usual ex-factory price or 10 per cent above the cost of production. Re-importation of these specially marked products into the EU will be prohibited. Announcing the scheme on 30 October, EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy denied that the move was connected to the discovery of quantities of GlaxoSmithKline products in the Netherlands which had originally been sold cheaply for export to developing countries.

Mr Lamy said that the plan had been in development for the past two years, although it was intended to prevent a repetition of the GlaxoSmithKline scenario.

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