The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7248 p638
10 May 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

Related websites
Irish Pharmaceutical Union (www.ipu.ie)

Concern as Ireland's drugs are "re-exported to the UK for profit"

Pharmacists in the Republic of Ireland are worried about shortages of medicines caused by parallel imports to Britain.

Wexford pharmacist Michael Wade said that the Irish wholesale price of many medicines was cheaper than in Britain because of special deals negotiated between the manufacturers and the Department of Health in Dublin. This price differential provides the motivation for re-export.

As a result, Irish patients are facing a growing shortage of commonly prescribed medicines, he claimed. "This is causing considerable inconvenience and could lead to complications when people require urgent medication."

Irish Pharmaceutical Union president Richard Collis said that the scarcity of certain drugs in the Irish market and the suspicion that they are being re-exported had been raised with the Department of Health, but no action has been taken so far.

"Part of the problem is that the practice is not illegal, and it could well be that some pharmacists are also involved," he said.

Mr Collis recalled receiving a telephone call from a pharmacist in Birmingham asking that he bulk buy certain drugs for him. "I declined, but it suggested to me that some in the UK are eager to get involved in this business. There are significant profits to be made, after all."