The European Association of Euro-Pharmaceutical Companies (EAEPC) strongly welcomes the European Parliament's resolution urging the EU to become more engaged in the fight against counterfeit medicines at the global and European level.

Counterfeit medicines pose a serious threat to public health and need a resolute response from policy makers, regulators and industry stakeholders.

While incidents of counterfeit medicines have been rare in Europe the EAEPC believes it is crucial to work towards further improving legislative and regulatory tools as well as cooperation among actors in the pharmaceutical sector to prevent a future increase in counterfeit cases.

The EAEPC, representing over 70 parallel distributors of medicines from 18 countries of the European Economic Area, is a member of the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Working Group on Counterfeit Medicines where it collaborates with national health authorities and other industry stakeholder to improve the safety of the European pharmaceutical supply chain.

It has also published Good Parallel Distribution Practice Guidelines - mandatory for its member companies - which underscore the various national and European regulatory requirements and standards governing our industry.

EAEPC members source supplies from licensed manufacturers or wholesalers located exclusively within the European Economic Area. The EAEPC nevertheless fully supports EU efforts to help improve safety standards in third countries and reduce the risk of counterfeit products entering the legitimate European supply chain.

• Notes to editors full text of the European Parliament's Resolution on counterfeiting medicinal products adopted on 6 September 2006.
• In September 2005, the EAEPC published its Good Parallel Distribution Practice Guidelines of Medicinal Product, which highlight parallel distributor's commitment to ensuring that their operations comply with national and European legal and regulatory requirements to guarantee patient safety.
• Further details on where the EAEPC stands on the issue of counterfeits can be found in its Position Paper on counterfeit medicines of September 2005.
• The European Association of Euro-Pharmaceutical Companies (EAEPC) is the representative voice of pharmaceutical parallel distribution in Europe. Through national association or individual company membership it encompasses over 70 firms from 18 countries in the European Economic Area (EEA).
• The EAEPC's primary aims are to safeguard the free movement of medicines, as laid down in the EU treaty, and to counteract any attempts to restrict the freedom of choice for the consumer through trading patterns in breach of European competition law. The Association believes that free trade will lead to improvements in health standards through the provision of innovative medicines at lower cost, benefiting statutory healthcare systems, other third-party payers, and the public as both patients and taxpayers, as well as assisting the EU to achieve its objective of a single, internal market.
• All products handled by EAEPC members have EU or national regulatory approval, are 100% safe and are exclusively sourced from and sold to EEA countries using authorised channels.
• For further information visit http://www.eaepc.org/.

Contact:

Heinz Kobelt

+32 478 797 949