Drug firms lose battle over pricing

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry claimed the financial inducements to medical practices breached EU rules.

Under the government’s guidance to cut costs, public health authorities in England and Wales run a bonus scheme designed to steer doctors towards specific named or generic drugs to prescribe to their patients - usually the cheapest in each therapeutic class of medicines.

ABPI, which was representing 90 drugs firms producing prescription drugs, said the system breached an EU directive that bans the advertising of prescription drugs and the offer of financial incentives or other benefits to those prescribing them.

But the European Court of Justice said the ban “concerns primarily the promotional activities carried out by the pharmaceutical industry, and seeks to prevent promotional practices which may induce doctors to act in accordance with their economic interests when prescribing medicinal products”.

The ruling continued: “By contrast, that prohibition does not apply to national public health authorities which, themselves, have competence for ensuring that the directive is applied…in relation to public health policy, in particular so far as concerns the rationalisation of the public expenditure allocated to that policy.”

The judges said the health policy of a particular member state had no profit-making or commercial aim, and any financial incentive scheme linked to the policy could not therefore be regarded as trying to promote commercially certain medicines.