It looks like PI's are going to have to up their pack quality if they are to continue.
The top EU court today placed the onus on parallel traders to prove their packaging doesn't harm a drugmaker's trademark by clearly stating who repackaged the product and ensuring the original condition of the medicine inside the box isn't affected.
The packaging ``must not be defective, of poor quality, or untidy,'' the court said.
As long as these conditions are fulfilled Glaxo, Lilly and others won't be able to ``lawfully'' prevent the traders from repackaging and reselling their products, the court said.
Pharmaceutical companies have been fighting for years against so-called parallel importers, which repackage and re-label their drugs from one EU nation and then import them to another. Giving advance notice is one of five conditions the European Court of Justice today said traders must follow to avoid breaching drugmakers' trademark rights.
``This comes down very much on the side of the pharmaceutical companies,'' said Cerryg Jones, a trademark lawyer at law firm Wragge & Co. in Birmingham, England. ``It makes it very clear indeed what constitutes an infringement and may finally end the long debate between parallel importers and pharma companies.''
The parallel trade in pharmaceuticals, supported by European regulators, allows wholesalers to benefit from price differences in Europe's 127.5 billion-euro ($174 billion) drug market. The traders buy drugs at lower state-mandated prices in countries such as Spain and re-export them to higher-priced markets including the U.K. Pharmaceutical companies, including Glaxo, argue the practice costs them about 5 billion euros a year.
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