Brussels watch.....

Pharma Pricing In Europe - Bangemann Working GroupsSubmit Reports The two working groups set up after the Frankfurt conference (in December 1996) which was convened by European Commissioner Martin Bangemann to discuss the future of pharmaceutical pricing in Europe, have now finalized their reports.

The first working group, more inclined to industry's views and charged with addressing the arguments put to the Frankfurt conference by industry speakers, has stopped far short of agreeing to any of the innovative approaches which have been suggested in the past to tackle the parallel trade/national government drug price setting problem.

It does recommend that a need exists for "further dialog to improve mutual understanding between payers and suppliers on methodological approaches to setting prices," and concludes that the so-called "contract approach," which was much vaunted by the industry in the run-up to Frankfurt, is "feasible" but even so there are "reservations concerning its wider implications."