Abstract

COSTA-FONT, Joan  and  KANAVOS, Panos. ¿A quién beneficia el comercio paralelo de medicamentos en la Unión Europea?. El trimestre econ [online]. 2009, vol.76, n.302, pp.331-347.  Epub Nov 20, 2020. ISSN 2448-718X.

Parallel trade is a legal movement (arbitrage) of goods from one country where the product is first sourced and protected by intellectual property rights to another one but without the warranty of the manufacturer company. This phenomenon takes place as a result of the coexistence of the principle of “free movement of goods” and the subsidiary of national government in social policy affairs. This paper empirically examines whether drug parallel trade in three European Union counties has exerted any effect on prices, and undertaken a distribution of the effect of parallel trade in its stakeholders. Our results suggest that there are very moderate effects of parallel trade on drug prices. The main beneficiaries of parallel trade are parallel importers themselves who bring negligible savings to the health system are moderate, unlikely to overcome the induced costs to drug innovation.

Keywords : comercio paralelo; política farmacéutica; innovación; Unión Europea.