Patents, Pricing In Europe, By Glaxo Wellcome COO

At a time when the industry is urging the benefits of open trade andintellectual property protection on the developing countries, it seems ironic that in Europe there is still some way to go on these issues, Glaxo Wellcome's chief operating officer Sean Lance told last week's Financial Times World Pharmaceuticals conference in London.

First, he said, drugs are the "signal failure" of the single European Union market. The industry supports the principle of the free movement of goods and recognizes that purchasers and governments have the right to negotiate prices, but freedom of movement must be tied to freedom of pricing, which is not now the case. "We do not accept that the industry should bear the brunt of the inequities that this system produces," he said. "The ambivalence of governments and the Commission in this regard must be resolved if Europe is to progress as a base for the industry." Second, the scrutiny of innovative drug pricing must end. Innovation should be rewarded, not impeded, and the premise that some meaningful index of innovativeness can be devised is "very questionable." The "very attempt to highlight such medicines is a profound disincentive," he said.

Europe's third problem is the lack of a coherent basis for protection of biotechnology inventions. There are two aspects here; rewards for innovation, and addressing the wider concerns arising from scientific progress. The latter is an important social issue, which needs thorough public debate. There is an urgent need to develop policy which reflects the progress being made, and public confidence is suffering because the broader issues are not being well-handled. Moreover, it is precisely because of this debate's importance that it should not be confused with patent issues.