Tag: pharmaceuticals review

A study entitled Community pharmacy in Europe: Lessons from deregulation - case studies, carried out by the Austrian Health Institute (OBIG), examines pharmacy legislation and quantitative and qualitative indicators in six European countries:Austria, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain. 

Patients' right to more information was a recurring theme at a conference on the pharmaceutical sector hosted by Commissioners Byrne and Liikanen.

In an exclusive interview with EurActiv, Sir Tom comments on Europe's competitiveness, the future medicines legislation, EU enlargement, corporate governance and information on medicines to patients through the Internet.

A day after the Council's final go-ahead for the new pharmaceuticals package, the Enterprise Commissioner said its provisions on patient information should be softened.

On 17 December, the European Parliament adopted amendments in the pharmaceuticals review package concerning the medicines agency as well as human and veterinary medicines.

The controversial data exclusivity provisions of the pharmaceutical review will be contested in the second reading debate in the Parliament's Public Health Committee.

On 5 November, socialist MEP Corbey made an appeal to Commissioner Verheugen to investigate the impact of changes to current EU pharmaceuticals rules on the new Member States.

This discussion paper argues that demand, supply and institutional factors come together favourably in the USA, making it a centre of gravity for world pharmaceutical research.

As European parliamentarians are preparing to vote in first reading on the Pharma Review package, the US President has eased access to generic drugs.

The European Parliament's Environment Committee opposes Commission plans to allow the pharmaceutical industry to provide information on medicines to consumers. In their first reading of three reports dealing with the EU's pharmaceutical review, the MEPs also adopted an amendment speeding up the time within which generic medicines can be brought to the market.

The announced merger of the largest US drugmaker Pfizer Inc. with Pharmacia Corp. will have to be investigated by the EU's antitrust authorities. The megamerger might restart a new round of consolidations in the global pharmaceuticals industry. It will also put pressure on European pharma companies to strengthen their market share.

The Commission calls on changes to the WTO patent rules, to ensure that also the poorest countries can have access to generic drugs.

The EU has presented a proposal to the WTO concerning access to medicines for developing countries that do not have the capacity to produce them themselves.

The Commission imposed a record fine of more than 855 million euros on 8 pharmaceutical companies for illegal cartel agreements on vitamins.

The British government warned the German pharmaceutical company, Bayer, in June 2001 that it needed to change the health warning labels for its anticholesterol drug Lipobay. This shows that the risks associated with the drug were well known months before Bayer withdrew Lipobay.

The Commission adopted a proposal on 18 July for comprehensive reform of the current EU pharmaceutical legislation. The new proposals are aimed at increasing competition in the European drugs industry by cutting the time taken to authorise new drugs from 18 months to about nine months. The changes would allow consumers to get more information about certain new treatments that a new code of practice would ensure is balanced.