Euro Court of Justice repackaging ruling welcomed by parallel importers

The rights of patients not to be confused or deterred from acceptingdrug packs containing foreign-language texts were acknowledged in the European Court of Justice by Advocate General Jacobs on July 12, in his opinion on two joined repackaging cases referred by national courts in Austria and the UK.

The joined cases are: - C-443/99 (Merck Sharp & Dohme vs Paranova Pharmazeutika Handels) and C-143/00 (Boehringer Ingelheim, Glaxo Group, SmithKline Beecham [GW and SKB are now GlaxoSmithKline] and Eli Lilly vs Dowelhurst and Swingward); and - C-427/93 (Bristol-Myers Squibb vs Paranova), C-429/93 (Boehringer Ingelheim vs Paranova) and C-436/93 (Bayer vs Paranova).

The European Association of Euro-Pharmaceutical Companies, which represents parallel traders, says Mr Jacobs' opinion gives several important clarifications building on previous ECJ verdicts. For example, on rebranding and repacking, he said partitioning of the market would occur if the importer was able to sell the product in only part of the market. Says the EAEPC: "it is now recognized that doctors, pharmacists and, importantly, patients' perspectives and acceptances are as relevant as the commercial intellectual property rights of the industry. This undoubtedly is a further step to give European Union citizens wider access to the identical but cheaper medicine provided by parallel trade."