A comparative analysis of generics markets in five European countries

A generic medicine is a faithful copy of a mature drug - no longer under pa tent - marketed with the chemical name of the active ingredient. This artic le analyses generics markets in five European countries: France, Germany. I taly. The Netherlands and the UK. The study investigated all the main issue s - patent. approval to market, pricing and reimbursement, prescription and distribution - which affect the life cycle of a pharmaceutical product. Th e situation in the five countries varied widely. Because of European harmon isation, patent legislation and approval procedures no longer affect much t he development of generics. Only national legislation on patent protection approved before the EU directive came into force still plays a role. Approv al differences seem to be due mainly to common practice, rather than to the regulations themselves, None of the countries have an efficient public inf ormation system on patent expiry. Generics have had more success in countri es with more flexible pricing policies. Reimbursement has not yet been used widely to discriminate between generics and proprietary drugs. Financial i ncentives are based more on physicians' prescribing behaviour than on pharm acists. The freedom of pharmacy ownership and the consequent possibility of dispensing pharmaceuticals through different channels affects dramatically the structure of generics markets. A free market of wholesalers and retail ers can enhance a competitive market, through horizontal and vertical integ ration all along the distribution chain. Such an environment has stimulated the success of unbranded generics by delegating strong purchasing power to distributors. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.