DO PARALLEL IMPORTS POSE A RISK TO UK PATIENTS?

A brief note in the Metro (no link available) reports that a Social Market Foundation report that came out on Monday claims that the NHS practice of parallel importing drugs from other European countries could put UK patients at risk for 2 reasons: (1) it’s more difficult for medicines to be recalled if a problem is found with a particular batch and (2) human error is possible where a foreign language on the original packaging is translated when the product is repackaged to enable it to penetrate the UK market.



The IPKat has had a look at the Social Market Foundation’s website, but could not find the paper, though he did find this event which took place on Monday. While he hasn’t seen the paper, his instinct is to treat the report with a slight degree of scepticism until it is shown that the risk of the negative consequences identified outweighs the benefits to be obtained from more people gaining access to the medicine because it is more cheaply priced.



More mistranslations here, here, here and here