E-DRUG: HAI Europe: Litigation instead of Innovation- EC's Pharma Competition Report
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HAI Europe PRESS RELEASE: Litigation instead of Innovation
28 November 2008
Today's preliminary report from DG Competition highlighted a number of
disturbing trends in the pharmaceutical sector that are linked to the
delay of market access for more affordable generic medicines within the
European Union. The report estimates that these actions inflated
expenditure for EU health systems by approximately 3 billion euros
between 2000 and 2007.
Originator companies are prolific litigators when it comes to patent
protection. Yet, it appears that the outcome matters less than the
process. Despite the majority of final decisions going against
originator companies, the delay produces the added bonus of extending
patents for the duration of the litigation process. So, it's not the
winning, but the taking part that seems to count.
Temporary injunctions granted to originator companies during the legal
process are another strategy from what the DG Competition calls the
'toolbox' of practices that contribute to delayed generic entry into the
market. Perhaps most troubling is the cumulative use of every instrument
in the 'toolbox' when a best-selling originator medicine is under threat
of losing patent exclusivity. No wonder fewer affordable medicines reach
European patients and consumers.
The investigation highlighted several practices detrimental to access to
medicines that meet real health needs, including 'patent clustering',
where companies file up to 1300 patents on a single product and
interventions in national marketing authorisation with misleading claims
that undermine the quality, efficacy and safety of generics.
Yet, repeatedly in this discussion, the end-users of medicines: the real
people, real patients that are the inevitable victims of monopoly
tactics were almost overlooked. The public health perspective was
virtually invisible for most of the proceedings. Competition in the
pharmaceutical sector was treated as a goal in itself rather than as a
means of achieving better access to the medicines that people need.
"Seemingly, in settings such as these it is a faux pas to talk about
pharmaceutical policy in relation to consumer rights, patients or public
health" said a representative from Health Action International.
Health Action International (HAI) Europe has consistently advocated for
universal access to affordable, essential medicines and we welcome DG
Competition's efforts to expose the anti-competitive practices that
threaten public health in Europe.
HAI Europe has also produced an event memo of the proceedings available
at:
http://www.haiweb.org/04122008/DG%20Competition%20Pharma%20Sector%20Prel
iminary%20Report.pdf [repair link]