Naturally
enough, all enterprises seek to exploit their market niches for
as long as possible particularly when their products are sold at
high price.
Drug
companies are no exception, and tend to go to great lengths for
preserving a market monopoly, especially in these times of weak
innovation and rare drugs of major therapeutic value. One strategy
is to delay the arrival of generic drugs once the patents have expired.
The
ongoing revision of European legislation on medicinal products is
seen by the pharmaceutical industry as an opportunity to further
strengthen their dominant position. They are thus lobbying intensively
for a Directive and Regulation that would support the following
three privileges:
prolonged "data protection" for prescription drugs;
For further information: Click
here
data protection for existing prescription drugs newly approved
for self-medication ("OTC switch");
For further information: Click
here
the concept of "biogenerics", drugs which could
not be approved as easily as common "generics".
For further information: Click
here
It
is perfectly normal to reward drug companies for their research
and development, when relevant to society's needs with commercial
exclusivity. But the economic and pseudoscientific pretexts being
forwarded to further lengthen this exclusivity period in Europe,
where it is already among the longest in the world, are unjustifiable.
It is time to stop artificially sustaining drug companies by giving
them excessive monopoly positions. It would be better to offer them
incentives to develop drugs with real therapeutic advantages, especially
for patients with no effective treatment.
©Medicines in Europe Forum 15 October
2003
|