NEW ITALIAN PHARMA CLASSES SUSPENDED

Italy's health minister Raffaele Costa is freezing for two weeks the final go-ahead for the new classification of some 200 pharmaceutical products because he wants to examine more closely the problem of so-called copied specialties, reports the Marketletter's Italian correspondent.

The new classification, decided by the recently established pharmaceutical committee, was due for publication in the Official Gazette pending final authorization. "The suspension was needed to have time to examine the problem of copied drugs and their impact on the state's pharmaceutical bill," said Mr Costa.

Around 30% of drugs in the suspended list belong to the A category, meaning that the state foots the entire bill when they are used under the state health service provisions. The list comprises 334 active agents, subdivided in 615 different specialties. Mr Costa maintains that of the total, only 87 represent new drugs, with over 1,000 specialties representing "exact copies of existing drugs."