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Health informatics Europe
| Ashursts’ report to EC
identifies barriers In a report recently commissioned by the European Commission, international law firm Ashurst Morris Crisp has concluded that significant barriers remain to be overcome before European consumers will be able to order their prescription drugs over the Internet. The report, released to the public late last month, sets out the existing barriers which prevent electronic commerce in the European pharmaceutical industry. It found that while manufacturers, wholesalers and large groups of pharmacists already transact orders by means of electronic commerce, there are considerable regulatory barriers to prevent consumers from buying their drugs electronically - in stark contrast to the United States. Electronic commerce in the pharmaceutical sector has attracted considerable interest since the much publicised on-line sales of the drug Viagra. European consumers found that, even though the drug was not yet licensed for sale in Europe, it was available by mail order over the Internet. Currently, national and European regulations prevent European drug companies, wholesalers and pharmacists from offering a similar service, a matter of concern to European drug manufacturers. Research for the report, entitled The Impact of Electronic Commerce on the European Pharmaceutical Sector, included surveying over 180 pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers and regulatory organisations in Europe. The report was one of the issues discussed at the Single Market Round Table meeting held by the Commission and members of industry in December 1998. In 1999 the Commission will continue its consultation process as to whether electronic commerce is appropriate for pharmaceuticals and, if so, how it might encourage it. The report is available through the Commission’s website and Ashursts' website  In addition, Ashursts will host a seminar on e-commerce in the pharmaceutical sector in London, at which a senior representative of the Commission’s DGIII has been invited to speak. For more information contact Mark Lubbock or Mark Clough at Ashursts. For more information contact: Mark Clough,
Partner, Brussels Office, tel: (32) 2 626 1900 |
