Court says drug incentive schemes comply with EU legislation

摘要

Public authorities may offer financial incentives to induce doctors to prescribe cheaper medicinal products, ruled the EU Court of Justice, on 22 April, in a case (C-62/09) concerning the compatibility of the British incentive scheme with the directive relating to medicinal products for human use. However, those authorities are required to ensure that the incentive scheme is based on non-discriminatory objective criteria and to make public the therapeutic evaluations relating to the scheme. This directive in fact prohibits any advantages whatsoever from being supplied, offered or promised to doctors.