Parallel trade (import) in pharmaceuticals in the UK Dissertation

Parallel share (import) in pharmaceuticals in the UK - Dissertation ExampleOne of the most common problems of these practices is their nonstarter to fully meet the standards related to the relevant activity. Furthermore, it seems that the willingness of the state to support business initiatives in various industrial sectors is not standardized. The above problem has resulted to the development of practices, which mountain help businesses to minimize the risks of loss and increase their competitiveness parallel flock is such practice. Despite its value in increasing business performance, loosely finished decreasing prices while the quality of offered products is not affected, parallel lot has been often negatively criticized as of its effects on the economy. On the other hand, there ar industries more appropriate for parallel trade and others where parallel trade practices are difficult to be established. In the pharmaceutical industry of Britain, parallel import was utilise in order to control prices, which are already at a high level compared to the average prices of similar products in other EU countries. The spend of parallel trade in the pharmaceutical industry has been initially related to the reduced prices for patients however, through the years, the specific activity has been also found to help towards the lessening of costs for the social security system of the importing countries.1 In practice, it has been proved that the use of parallel trade in the specific case did not repugn to significantly support the particular industry at least, not at the level expected by its initiators. However, important benefits were resulted for the British economy. The effects of parallel trade on the British pharmaceutical industry are examined in this paper. Emphasis is given on the policies used by the British legislators to control parallel trade regarding the pharmaceutical products and minimize relevant risks. It is concluded that parallel trade in t he British pharmaceutical industry has helped the industry in increase its competitiveness against its rivals referring mostly to the pharmaceutical industries of other member states however, in terms of the performance of British pharmaceutical firms, the benefits of parallel trade are not clear, a fact indicating that special measures need to be taken in order for the parallel trade in the specific industry to be more effectively controlled. 2. Parallel trade description, characteristics and benefits Due to its nature, parallel import cannot be clearly defined rather, reference could be made to its characteristics, as identified in the literature published in the particular field. In accordance with Cheng et al. (1995) the key characteristics of the parallel import are the following ones a) it relates to goods protected by trademark/ patent or copyright and b) the importer is not the rightholder of the said right but obtained and exported.2 In terms of their well-grounded stat us, parallel import goods have been characterized as greymarket goods, meaning that they are not fully legal3 this issue is judged each time by reviewing the conditions of the local market but also the economic benefits to which parallel import is related in a particular market.4 In practice, this means that in countries where parallel import highly supports the national economy, its potential alignment with the law (referring to the legal status of the parallel