Italian industry views pharma e-commerce

While endorsing the use of e-commerce in health care, Gian Pietro Leoni,president of the Italian drug industry association Farmindustria, has stressed the need to "control the revolution."

Speaking in Rome, Mr Leoni said e-commerce can represent an opportunity for the drug industry, but the important thing is to control this revolution by guaranteeing drug efficacy and quality and patient safety, and by determining a range of products available at European level. Offering pharmaceuticals on-line would represent an opportunity to reduce costs, he added.

He noted that the UK, for example, had set up the National Health Service Direct service, to provide diagnosis and medical assistance which is complementary to the service provided by doctors and pharmacists.