Kristof – Affordable medicines europe

Position Paper – Medicine shortages

Medicine shortages are an increasing problem and a growing concern of patients and healthcare providers. It is a problem for which we must find practical solutions both short- and long-term. To this purpose, Affordable Medicines Europe in this paper presents 20 concrete actions that can be taken by policymakers.

Position Paper – Diversification of the Supply Chain

Over the past years shortages of medicine have been on the rise, not only in the EU but world-wide. In this paper, we identify the vulnerability of single source supply chains and discuss how we can diversify production so as to decrease dependence on individual factories. Though the COVID-19 Pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in the supply chain and […]

Position Paper – Transparency Directive Revision

Affordable Medicines Europe strongly support an ambitious revision of the Transparency Directive. It is a key objective for our sector to bring more affordable medicines to healthcare sys-tems and patients across the EU. The current lack of transparency of medicines prices is one of the key obstacles to reach this objective. We therefore called for […]

Factsheet – Savings From Parallel Imports in Europe

Affordable Medicines Europe compiled in one reports the most recent studies on direct and indirect savings in Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Poland. The total amount of savings in these four countries added up to €3.2 billion. For Sweden and Germany, the savings figures account for those of the pharmacy market alone, while for Denmark and […]

Factsheet – Trade Flows

Affordable Medicines Europe have undertaken a study of the trade flows of parallel distributed medicines in Europe in 2018. The results show, that parallel distributed medicines to not primarily flow from low-income to high-income countries. A main conclusion of the study is, that more than half of all parallel imported medicines originate from a high-income […]

Benefits to Payers and Patients from Parallel Trade

Researchers from the University of York elaborated in 2003 a paper on the benefits of parallel trade for patients and taxpayers. They estimated the direct savings for five countries (UK, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark) in 2002 added up to €635 million. Evidence of competitive effects bringing prices of the medicines down in these countries […]

Why Parallel Imports May Rise Producers’ Profits

This study concludes that even the manufacturers can benefit from parallel trade if certain conditions are met. The results are based on the assumption that, when competitive retailers must order inventories before they know the realisation of the demand, the ability to trade the unsold products incentivise them to make larger orders, to the profit […]

Understanding Competition in the Distribution of Pharmaceutical Products in Europe

This report is a thorough analysis of the application of Article 82 EC to supply restrictions It first explains in detail the functioning and regulatory framework of the pharmaceutical market; and after it details why it should be applied on the grounds abuse of dominance. The assessment concludes that competition law should be equally valid […]

The economic impact of parallel import of pharmaceuticals

This study calculated direct savings for Denmark, Sweden, Germany and UK that added up to €441,4 million in 2004. They also estimated the indirect savings for Denmark and Sweden for a combined €24,7 million. It is very likely that these indirect savings are underestimated due to methodology constraints.

EU Enlargement, Parallel Trade and Price Competition in Pharmaceuticals. What’s to Blame? Derogation or Perception?

This study analysed data from Sweden to check if parallel trade increased the competition in the pharmaceutical market, and whether the process of EU enlargement increased pushed the prices even further down. On the one hand, the researchers found out that, indeed, the prices of the drugs facing competition from parallel imports was on average […]

Parallel imports of pharmaceuticals in Demark, Germany, Sweden and the UK, 2004-2009

Enemark and Pedersen estimated once again the savings for the same four countries (Denmark, Sweden, Germany and UK). This time, average direct savings for the period amounted to €418 million per year. Germany had the largest share of the savings with €289 million; however, Scandinavian markets have increased their share relatively from the results for […]

The Parallel Distribution Industry. A closer look at savings

The EAEPC published in 2013 a report that built on the results of Enemark and Pedersen and used the same methodology to calculate the savings for a larger set of countries (EAEPC, 2013). Savings in emerging markets as France, Ireland Italy were smaller than in the main PI markets, but still not negligible. Savings amounted […]

Parallel Trade of Pharmaceuticals: The Danish Market for Statins

This study analysed the potential effects of removing parallel imports on prices and government and patients’ health expenditure. The researcher from the University of Melbourne developed a model based on the Danish Market for Statins and found out that a ban on parallel imports would increase the prices of patented medicines and also generics, although […]

Financial Impact of Pharmaceutical Imports on Healthcare

The Swiss economic consulting company Prognos conducted in 2018 an analysis of the direct savings and the potential direct savings for the German market. They were calculated for the years 2015-2018, and they ranged between €202 and €206 million per year throughout the period. The largest amount of savings was found in the group of […]

Indirect Savings from Parallel Trade in the Pharmaceutical Sector: the German and the Swedish cases

Spanish consulting firm analysed the effects of competition from parallel imports on the reduction of the prices of pharmaceuticals in Germany and Sweden.Indirect savings in Germany were found to represent 16.7% of the originators’ revenues for those products with negative correlations that faced parallel trade entry within the analysis period. This can give a better […]

Secondary analysis of indirect savings effects and potentials of parallel imports of pharmaceuticals

The German consulting firm Inno AG built on the results of NERA and extrapolated the proportion of indirect savings calculated by them for the whole German import relevant market. To obtain this, they subtract those medicines with generic competition and those without import alternative from the total market for prescription-only preparations. Indirect savings in Germany […]

The impact of import on the competitive situation on the market for medicinal products in Poland in the years 2010-2018

The association of Polish parallel importers SIRPL analysed the direct and indirect savings coming from parallel imports in the country in a report that was audited by Deloitte. Savings amounted to more than €720 million between 2010 and 2018. Just in 2018, savings added up to €124 million. The report presents the distribution of the […]

Savings From Parallel Imports in Europe

Trade flows of parallel imported medicines

As the prevalence of shortages is becoming a big challenge for healthcare systems, a perception has arisen in Europe that parallel trade of pharmaceuticals is a one-way street, where the medicines go from lower income countries to higher income countries. But unidirectional travel of medicines from low-income to high-income countries is a myth and this […]

Trade Flows of Parallel Imported Medicines 2020

The increasing prevalence of shortages around the EU is a key concern for Affordable Medicines Europe. Parallel trade is occasionally mentioned as one of the causes. One such myth is the unidirectional travel of medicines from low-income to high-income countries. In this study we update the facts around the parallel trade flows in Europe, first […]

The economic impact of parallel imports of pharmaceuticals – An assessment of savings in Denmark in 2021

Parallel imports of pharmaceuticals has taken place in Denmark and the rest of the EU since the 1970s. In 2021, parallel imports accounted for 16% of turnover in the Danish market for medicinal products, an increase of 2% in comparison with 2018. Thanks to a favourable regulatory environment, savings in Denmark have also increased from […]

Trade Flow of Parallel Imported Medicines 2022/2023

The increasing prevalence of shortages around the EU is a key concern for Affordable Medicines Europe. Parallel trade is occasionally mentioned as one of the causes. One such myth is the unidirectional travel of medicines from low-income to high-income countries. In this study, we update the facts around the parallel trade flows in Europe, first […]

Author: Kristof