Importance of PIs "Will Decline Significantly"

Between 1995 and 2000 the importance of parallel imports in Europe will decrease significantly, despite the recent victory by German parallel importers over wholesalers and the current controversy about exports to the rest of the European Union from Spain, says a new study from datamonitor, Pharmaceutical Wholesaling, which is available through the Marketletter priced $1,995.

Despite concerns about such imports from Spain and, to a lesser extent, from Portugal, Spanish wholesalers do not expect the products to become an important element because there are agreed limits on traded quantities between wholesalers and manufacturers, says Datamonitor. The Spanish market is fragmented, and its structure does not favor parallel imports. Moreover, manufacturers are able to restrict this trade by curbing their supplies to individual wholesalers on the basis of estimated local requirements.

Nor, says Datamonitor, do parallel importers in the leading markets of the UK, Netherlands and Germany expect imports from Spain to have much of an effect on their markets. Given that only a very few medicines are notably cheaper in Spain than other source countries, few products will be imported parallel from Spain for the first time, says Datamonitor. Nevertheless, certain products can be sourced from Spain as well as other markets, and the report believes this may reduce sales in the UK, as this is the second most important source market for the Netherlands and Germany. The Netherlands currently accounts for 14% of the parallel market, the UK for 8% and Germany for 2%.