EC keeps pharma's direct price controls

14 March 1994 00:00  [Source: ICB]

AS THE EC approves its guidelines on industrial policy for the pharmaceutical sector, part of the industry is up in arms over the decision to back down from the phaseout of direct price controls.

Nelly Baudrihaye, director general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries (EFPIA), summed up 'the industry's strong disappointment on the watering-down' of these proposals.

The revised draft is seen as a direct setback for industry commissioner Martin Bangemann.

Seen as pro-industry, Bangemann argued that the removal of price controls would allow drug makers to invest in a new generation of innovative products.

The R&D-based industry is reported to be taking the realistic approach and that the previous document would have been seen as too pro-industry to have any real credibility with member states.

The EFPIA said that, while price control emphasis has been weakened, so too has that on generics.

The EFPIA has welcomed the report's exposure of the dangers surrounding the industry, pointing out that the industry has too often been accused of 'crying wolf'.

Pointing to the pharmaceutical industry as one of the best European high technology sectors, the document highlights the effects of the loss of competitiveness.

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