Enlargement 'poses risks and benefits'

Published: 1-Jun-2003


The impending enlargement of the European Union to include countries that were once part of the communist eastern bloc poses risks for the western European pharmaceutical sector, as well as benefits from the opening up of new markets, a senior industry figure has warned.

President of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, Sir Tom McKillop, who is also ceo of AstraZeneca, has flagged up in particular the risk posed by an increase in parallel trading that could follow the admission of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, (Greek) Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia by 2005.

He said that the parallel trade in medicines is a strong disincentive to research, adding: 'Changes resulting from enlargement could weaken further the European pharmaceutical industry through increased parallel trade. All parties must work with the candidate countries to ensure that they achieve the full benefits of accession without damaging the EU healthcare market through parallel trade.'

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