The Pharmacy and Poisons Board( PPB) has made a bold decision to address what maybe the local pharmaceutical industry’ s most controversial issue, parallel trade in pharmaceuticals.
Cover Story
Parallel importation of drugs to lower cost of medication
By Sharon Odhiambo
The Pharmacy and Poisons Board( PPB) has made a bold decision to address what maybe the local pharmaceutical industry’ s most controversial issue, parallel trade in pharmaceuticals.
While there have been previous attempts to tackle this matter in the past, it is hoped that the current attempt will pay attention to all important aspects of this issue in order to build a consensus among all interested parties in coming up with a policy position that is not only widely acceptable but also addresses most of the contentious issues once and for all.
Through a process considered largely as inclusive, the exercise commenced with the PPB organising a stakeholders’ forum where issues of parallel import of pharmaceuticals were deliberated upon; the output of these discussions were subjected to a technical committee consisting mainly of representatives from various interest groups namely; the Kenya Association of Pharmaceutical Industry( KAPI), Kenya Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors( KAPD) and the representatives from the regulator – the PPB. The result is the current product, a draft regulation framework. According to the PPB, this document will be refined and subjected to a varied stakeholder audience including representatives from consumer organisations for input.
It is against this background that Health Business Magazine made a deliberate effort to seek more information on this subject through an interview with the PPB.
20 November-December 2016