The Results of Research on Negative Impacts of Counterfeiting in the Pharmaceutical Industry Published

The European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights at EUIPO published the ninth study in a series of economic studies dealing with the impact of problems regarding the infringements of intellectual property rights in individual industrial sectors in the European Union, originally titled: “The economic cost of IPR infringement in the pharmaceutical industry”.

The study gives an overview of data on consequences of counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical industry, referring only to manufacturing and wholesale of pharmaceutical products. The introduction of the study gives an overview of the situation of the pharmaceutical industry in the EU, indicating Germany to be the biggest producer of pharmaceuticals in the EU, followed by Ireland, France and Italy.

The study shows that sales losses on the EU level due to the manufacturing of counterfeit pharmaceuticals account for €10.2 billion of revenue annually, the highest being in Italy, followed by Spain and Germany. The sales lost as a consequence of counterfeiting in this industrial sector on an annual level in the EU states amount to 4.4% of legitimate pharmaceuticals sale on the average. The sales losses are also related to a direct loss of 37,700 jobs, with Germany suffering the highest employment losses.

There are also indirect negative impacts considered on other economic segments in the EU as a consequence of counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical industry. The study presents total employment losses amounting to 90,900 jobs, taking into consideration jobs in the sector of suppliers who suffer consequences of counterfeiting in this industry. Furthermore, the study presents data on revenue losses suffered by governments due to illegal activities of tax evasion in the pharmaceutical industry and this loss for EU 28 is estimated at €1.7 billion per year.

The study is available at the following link.
 

Datum novosti: 3.10.2016.