Pharmaceutical industry remains deadlocked on single market
A difficult meeting between the pharmaceutical industry, the European Commission and EU Member States failed to resolve differences over the way forward to a single market in pharmaceuticals on 7 December 1998. The main stumbling block at the Paris meeting was the different national regimes governing healthcare and pharmaceutical pricing. Variations in pricing have led to parallel markets in pharmaceuticals, which has upset the industry. But Member States are reluctant to relinquish their distinctive pricing policies. Martin Bangemann, the Industry Commissioner, described the meeting as "a solid discussion - but not an easy one". "They have allowed us... to confirm that the current situation is not ideal and that there are better ways of facing up to the pressures in this sector," said the Commissioner. "They have also confirmed that we are working to ensure that these pressures do not simply play themselves out in ways which damage innovation - but instead promote it." Mr Bangemann stressed the value of the discussions and described the meeting as the first where the groups have engaged in the reality of the debate, rather than merely setting out their own positions. The next step, he said, is to meet in a few months time to take the discussions forwards. It was the third round table meeting on the single market in pharmaceuticals and before the meeting the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) said that the meeting "should result in concrete proposals to solve the current problems faced by the single pharmaceutical market". But afterwards the EFPIA was disappointed. A spokesperson said the Commission's plans "do not address the issue of competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry". Industry representatives also stated their disappointment that the round table discussion base did not bring forward plans to further deregulate the pharmaceutical market and tackle the issue of parallel trade to a great enough extent. The EFPIA says price fixing would be a useful solution to differences in prices and consumption levels between Member States. But any attempt at price fixing would face formidable legal barriers. The Commission has already stated its concern about the incompatibility of price fixing measures with the free movement of goods. But it has also said that price fixing could "equally be seen as an important driving force towards more market integration". The forthcoming enlargement of the EU, says the Commission, could exacerbate what it calls "patchwork pricing"