Medicines and the New Economic Environment: I. THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT: I.3. The Normalisation of the International Market for Pharmaceuticals: Future Impacts in Emerging Markets: 2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NORMS: 2.2. The empirical framework: 2.2.3. Prices

Medicines and the New Economic Environment
(1998; 252 pages) [Spanish]

Table of Contents

THE AUTHORS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
I. THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
	I.1. Opening Speech: Welfare State, Economic Policy and Health Services
		1. EVOLUTION AND PROBLEMS OF WELFARE PROGRAMS
		2. THE FUTURE OF THE WELFARE STATE: THE NEED FOR REFORM
		3. HEALTH CARE SERVICES: PROBLEMS AND REFORM LINES
		4. COMPETITION AND EFFICIENCY IN HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS
		5. COST OF HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY
		REFERENCES
	I.2. The Uruguay Round and Drugs
		1. INTRODUCTION
		2. PATENTS
			2.1. General principles
			2.2. Non-patentability: biotechnology-based drugs
			2.3. Non-discrimination clause
			2.4. Rights conferred: imports
			2.5. Rights conferred: protection of products through protection of the process
			2.6. Exceptions to exclusive rights
			2.7. Granting of compulsory licences
				2.7.1. Grounds for granting compulsory licences
				2.7.2. Conditions for granting compulsory licences
			2.8. Terms of protection
			2.9. Reversal of the burden of the proof
		3. UNDISCLOSED INFORMATION
		4. TRANSITIONAL PERIODS
			4.1. General grace period
			4.2. New patentable areas
			4.3. Protection of existing subject matter
			4.4. Prior compulsory licences and applications
			4.5. Pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products
		5. ENFORCEMENT AND SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
		6. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF DRUGS
		7. CONCLUSIONS
		REFERENCES
	I.3. The Normalisation of the International Market for Pharmaceuticals: Future Impacts in Emerging Markets
		1. THE GLOBAL CONTEXT
		2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NORMS
			2.1. The drive towards normalisation
			2.2. The empirical framework
				2.2.1. The current structure of national markets
				2.2.2. Patents
				2.2.3. Prices
				2.2.4. The good manufacturing practices (GMP) and the quality of pharmaceuticals
				2.2.5. Generics
			2.3. The significance of the empirical information
		3. FUTURE TRENDS IN A NORMALISED WORLD
			3.1. Location of and control over production
				3.1.1. A synthesis of the structure of production
				3.1.2. What model is the international market heading for?
				3.1.3. Options for local producers in emerging countries
			3.2. International trade
		4. THE STEPS TO FOLLOW
		REFERENCES
II. THE REFORM OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS
	II. 1. Cost Containment and Health care Reforms: the Impact on Pharmaceuticals
		1. INTRODUCTION
		2. COST CONTAINMENT MEASURES
			2.1. Cost-sharing
			2.2. Expenditure ceilings
			2.3. Limiting doctors and hospital beds
			2.4. Alternatives to in-patient care
			2.5. Influencing the resource use authorised by doctors
			2.6. Pharmaceutical prices
			2.7. A profit control system for Europe?
			2.8. The effectiveness of cost containment measures: potential for further action
		3. LONG TERM SOLUTIONS
			3.1. Systematic approaches to establishing priorities
			3.2. Why are health care costs so explosive?
			3.3. Technology assessment and pharmacoeconomics
			3.4. Methodological problems in economic evaluation
				3.4.1. Cost benefit analysis
				3.4.2. Cost-utility analysis
				3.4.3. International cooperation
			3.5. Making health services more efficient
				3.5.1. Evaluation of the reforms
			3.6. Necessary health care and outcomes measurement
		4. CONCLUSIONS
		REFERENCES
	II.2. Reform of Health Care Services in Developing Countries, Role of the State and Essential Drugs
		1. INTRODUCTION
		2. POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND, AND ROLE OF THE STATE
			2.1. The economic background
			2.2. Poverty
			2.3. The role of the state
		3. HEALTH CARE REFORMS IN LATIN AMERICA
			3.1. Financing of the health care sector
			3.2. Health care expenditure
			3.3. Coverage
			3.4. Adjustment policies in the sector
			3.5. Three practical experiences
				3.5.1. The Chilean reform
				3.5.2. Costa Rica
				3.5.3. The Colombian reform
				3.5.4. 1993: A change in direction?
		4. ESSENTIAL DRUGS
			4.1. Production
			4.2. Regulations and registration
			4.3. Prescription
			4.4. Marketing
			4.5. Drugs and the public sector
			4.6. Training
			4.7. Conclusions
		REFERENCES
	II.3. Regulation, Policies and Essential Drugs
		1. TWO MAJOR TRENDS
			1.1. The role of the state
				1.1.1. The state and the civil society: regulation and participation. State control vs. Privatization?
			1.2. Internationalization
				1.2.1. From the «Nation State» to the «nationalities»
				1.2.2. Regional blocks: community areas
		2. DRUGS
			2.1. The process of innovation
				2.1.1. The end of the innovation boom
				2.1.2. Privatization of research
				2.1.3. Greater cost in research
			2.2. The selection process
				2.2.1. Prevailing health criteria
				2.2.2. Regulatory approval: selecting the useful and safe
				2.2.3. Essential drugs: the best
				2.2.4. And what about quality?
			2.3. The expansion of markets
				2.3.1. Economic and social rationale of internationalization
				2.3.2. Processes of regional and sub-regional integration
				2.3.3. Repercussions on the health care sector
				2.3.4. The challenge to surveillance and control. «Liberalization»?
			2.4. The creation of common areas: harmonization
				2.4.1. Harmonization of marketing authorization procedures
				2.4.2. Harmonization of pharmacological standards
				2.4.3. Harmonization of good manufacturing practices (GMPs)
				2.4.4. Intellectual property
			2.5. Ongoing processes
				2.5.1. World Health Organization
				2.5.2. The International Conference for Drug Regulatory Authorities
				2.5.3. The International Conference on the Harmonization of Technical Requirements for the approval of medicinal products for humans (ICH)
				2.5.4. The European Community
				2.5.5. The Andean group
				2.5.6. Mercosur
				2.5.7. Central America
		3. CONCLUSIONS
III. A CHANGING PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
	III.1. The New Structure of the Pharmaceutical Industry
		1. INTRODUCTION
		2. PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT⁵
		3. THE REGULATION OF NEW DRUGS MARKETING
		4. RISING COSTS, DECLINING NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTIONS
		5. DRUG TESTING AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS
		6. DRUG PRICES, PRICE CONTROLS, AND COMPETITION
		7. INDUSTRY RESTRUCTURING
		8. CONCLUSION
		REFERENCES
	III.2. Innovation and Regulation in the Pharmaceutical Market
		1. INTRODUCTION
		2. AN ERA OF EXPENSIVE DRUGS
			2.1. Expensive innovative drugs
			2.2. Innovation and the dynamic of drug markets
			2.3. The cost of innovation
		3. WHY ARE DRUGS EXPENSIVE?
			3.1. The R&D problem
			3.2. The nature of the market
		4. HOW TO REGULATE EXPENSIVE DRUGS?
			4.1. The ineffectiveness of direct price control
			4.2. Reinforced competition?
			4.3. Prescription control and pharmaco-economic assessment
		REFERENCES
	III.3. Change and Growth in Generic Markets in Developed and Developing Countries
		1. INTRODUCTION
		2. THE RESEARCH-BASED INDUSTRY FACES THE GENERICS
		3. SOME FIGURES FOR WESTERN COUNTRIES
		4. SOME FIGURES FOR NEW AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
		5. TRENDS IN GENERIC PRODUCTION
		6. THE PROTECTION OF RESEARCH (SCHERER, 1993)
		7. GENERICS BY THE YEAR 2000
		REFERENCES
IV. SYNTHESIS AND FORECASTS
	Medicines and the New Economic Environment: Summary and Forecasts (*)
		1. THE ROLE OF THE STATE AND THE REFORM OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS
			1.1. Problems regarding the welfare state in Western Europe and changes in Health Care Systems
			1.2. The development of health systems in Latin America and the ways of reform
			1.3. Conclusions on perspectives for change in health systems
			1.4. Cooperation from banks of development as new participants in the field of health
		2. CHANGES IN THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE
			2.1. Globalization
			2.2. Regional integration
		3. CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
		4. CALENDAR FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND COOPERATION
BIBLIOTECA CIVITAS ECONOMÍA Y EMPRESA
BACK COVER

2.2.3. Prices

It is vital never to lose sight of the fact that, despite the crucial role played by R&D in market structure and the shaping of norms, the major struggles over prices go on all the while, with no quarter asked nor given. Table 3 gives some examples of controversial policies applied and/or proposed recently in selected emerging countries. The following aspects of them merit emphasis:

• The majority of the conflicts relate to those products which do not have good substitutes, i.e. where the markets are not so susceptible to price-based competition. These are precisely the items made and sold by the innovative pharmaceutical firms¹³.

• The control relates not only to the structure of prices but also to the frequency and extent of price adjustments. While the former element (price structure) tends to be linked with markets which are partially separate (e.g. the hospital market in Korea), the latter is more a reflection of macroeconomic conditions (c/f the case of Egypt in Table 3).

• Although the notorious problem of transfer pricing of active substances is only signalled explicitly for Pakistan, it remains relevant in all countries in which the government pursues a policy of promoting locally based production. Put another way: if a country in seeking «self sufficiency» (in the sense of finishing manufacture of a product in plants located on home soil), then it runs the risk of having constantly to watch out for transfer pricing that may be abusive.

¹³ Governments seek to set prices so as to facilitate access of the population to pharmaceuticals, while companies are concerned with the profit situation.

The attempts at price control is one of the perpetually burning issues in the drug market. At present the contours of a convergence of various factors that take on the character of norms can be detected, yet these are tied as much to the market in itself as to the shifts in macroeconomic and other policies which many emerging countries are going through. The innovative pharmaceutical firms seek not only a greater liberty in setting the initial prices charged for innovative products, but also the removal of preferential purchasing practices (which usually operate in favour of local producers and/or suppliers of generics), and the regular and timely adjustment of prices to compensate for the effects of inflation and devaluation. Governments, for their part, are confronted with a severe squeeze on expenditure on pharmaceuticals at the same time as policies aimed at strengthening local industry are ever more restricted in scope. The expenditure squeeze tends to encourage the use of generics and the recasting of pharmaceutical registries, both factors which should give a push to the secondary market where price competition tends to reduce outlays. All the same, it seems likely that the weight of the former factors would exceed that of the latter.

TABLE 3 - Prices of pharmaceuticals

Country	Event
Egypt	1994; increases in «ceiling» prices of between 10-15 per cent permitted. Such figures were below both the rate of inflation and the adjustments originally promised.
Morocco	The essential drug list remains under strong control.
Korea	Important disagreements between the government and innovative pharmaceutical firms regarding purchasing policies of the hospital sector.
India	1995; new conditions (DCPO) announced. About half the retail market remains controlled, as well as essential drugs. Ceilings retained on profit rates in the market for sales of bulk chemicals.
Pakistan	1995; serious disputes regarding transfer prices. Official studies put the differentials in prices per kg of active principals between the Pakistan and the international price at a range of US$26 to US$11,000.