EC, FRENCH DRUG AGENCY MOVES FOUNDER

French Prime Minister Edith Cresson was forced last week by intense parliamentary opposition to postpone a vote on her government's proposed new drug agency until the spring.

One of the functions of the planned agency was to help bring French drug price-setting arrangements into line with the rest of the European Community. However, a move in the EC to set up a European-wide drugs agency - a project which has been widely welcomed by the European pharmaceutical industry - has also received a severe setback, after being on the agenda for some two years.

The agency is to function as the focus for the newly-harmonized drug marketing and other regulations in the single market. A few weeks ago, experts were predicting that members would adopt a "common position" on the agency issue.