Bayer parallel import case reopened

pharmafile | October 22, 2003 | News story | |   

A landmark legal battle over parallel trade of Bayer's blood pressure treatment Adalat has been re-commenced in the European Court of Justice.

The European Commission is appealing against an October 2000 decision by the European Court of First Instance, which ruled that no anti-free trade agreement had been established between Bayer and its Spanish and French wholesalers.

The company, like many others, set up supply quota arrangements with some wholesalers to minimise the parallel trade of its product into the UK.

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The Commission and the German parallel import company involved in the case, BAI, hope to restore an original decision dating back to 1996 which saw Bayer fined E3 million for the practice.

European parallel trade association EAEPC also testified at the recent first hearing of the Court, which is expected to make its ruling within the three to six months.

"[Our] experience is that the CFI's ruling has been used by pharmaceutical companies to refine their sales quota systems", said EAEPC President Edwin Kohl. "By setting up such systems manufacturers artificially partition the single market, so we hope the Court of Justice will come up with a clear-cut decision which gives the Commission the instruments it needs to be an effective guardian of the treaties".

The pharmaceutical industry is becoming increasingly concerned about the effect of parallel trade on its profits in Europe, in particular, trade into the UK. The high-price market is the biggest parallel importer in the EU, and IMS now forecasts the NHS will spend 20% of its drugs bill on parallel imports by the end of 2002.

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