Medicines policy and drug company investments: the Irish experience

Abstract

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT MANIFESTATIONS of power in medicines and pharmaceutical industry policy. The main focus is on the Republic of Ireland but there are chapters also on drug regulation in Canada, Britain and Australia. The multinational pharma companies loom larger in Ireland than in most other countries; several chapters detail the implications for this small country of the presence of a major cluster of global drug companies. Globalisation is the hallmark of the drug sector; innovation and production occur within international networks which are mirrored by interaction between regulatory agencies which operate similar systems of control and monitoring. Since the 1990s, many aspects of product safety regulation have been standardised across the developed countries through the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) process, sponsored by the regulatory agencies and industry associations of the USA, the European Union and Japan. While orchestrating vast scientific, economic and technological resources, the big pharma companies participate as insiders in national policy processes, such as those described in this book. Firms typically affirm a commitment to the health and economic concerns of the local jurisdiction ? however governments cannot help but be sensitive to their global reach and power to choose where to invest.