Parallel Trade in Pharmaceuticals: Past and future scenarios

Summary

Parallel trade or parallel importation is the cross-border trade in a particular product, through a route that the manufacturer may not have originally intended. As many manufacturers operate a system whereby they sell their products at different prices in different markets, there is an incentive for those wishing to reduce the costs of their purchases to seek these products from the lower-priced markets. As the demand for cheaper products has grown, parallel trade businesses have flourished. By sourcing products from lower-priced markets to sell to consumers in higher-priced markets, these companies can offer significant savings to consumers, who thereby have an alternative to the price that the product is being sold at in their country by the original manufacturer.

This, 60,000 word strategic management, publication provides the valuable market overview and data that all pharmaceutical companies will find essential in their business.

Understand the development in this fast-moving sector:

• Examines the impact of forthcoming EU enlargement as a new source of cheaper product
• Describes how high drug prices in the United States is opening up the potential for imports from Canada and Mexico
• Asks whether parallel trade will become a global issue as countries like Kenya and the Philippines experiment
• Discusses whether parallel imports are influencing big pharma’s R&D spend
• Latest thinking on the exhaustion of intellectual property rights in international law

Comprehensive insight into the major issues including:

• Why price differential is not the only factor that causes parallel trade
• Case studies and descriptions of legal battles in the EU that have been fought over the last 30 years
• Why EU legislation and governments encourage parallel imports
• How the AIDS crisis has become the biggest issue for governments, ethical pharmaceutical companies and parallel traders alike
• The WTO’s role and compulsory licensing

Economic arguments for and against the existence of parallel trade in pharmaceuticals