Direct distribution and on behalf of antiepileptic drugs not only to save money, but also to ensure continuity of care for patients. This is the proposal presented by the Italian League against Epilepsy (Lice) and the Italian Association against Epilepsy (Aice) during the meeting that took place yesterday in the Senate in the presence of representatives of AIFA and Farmindustria. "In Italy," he said Oriano Mecarelli, head of the Liceo Promotion Commission "there are around 500,000 people with epilepsy, a disease that involves an annual outlay of over 785 million euros for the costs of hospitalization and therapy alone". On this figure, he added John Baptist Fish, Aice secretary and president of Fire (Italian Epilepsy Research Foundation) «pharmaceutical expenditure accounts for 139 million euros. Direct and account distribution would guarantee savings of over 30 million euros in the epilepsy therapeutic area alone, and without any disadvantage for pharmaceutical companies». And not only that: "Modifying the distribution of antiepileptic drugs in this sense" continues Pesce "would mean guaranteeing the continuity of therapies, which today, due to a widespread parallel export phenomenon, are jeopardized by a dramatic unavailability of these lifesavers in certain areas of the boot".
"It's true, the parallel export of medicines is a phenomenon to be controlled and monitored," he commented Massimo Scaccabarozzi, president of Farmindustria, on the sidelines of the meeting «however it is difficult to find strategies, and we certainly cannot and do not want to control the phenomenon: it is certainly not up to us».
November 14, 2012 – DoctorNews
Industry on antiepileptic parallel export control
"We cannot and do not want to control the parallel export phenomenon" of epilepsy drugs. "It's not up to us to do it." This was stated by Massimo Scaccabarozzi, president of Farmindustria, who spoke in Rome at the meeting 'Epilepsy, how much does it cost us?', where the problem of the insufficient availability, in Italy, of life-saving drugs for these patients is also addressed.
"It should be checked that what is distributed – continues the president of Farmindustria – satisfies the Italian market first and then the foreign one. But finding a strategy is difficult".
