The Government has changed position and decided to row in behind the pharmaceutical industry to oppose contentious reforms of the sector being debated at European Union level, following intense lobbying from pharma companies.
Proposed EU reforms would cut a minimum eight-year window companies have to exclusively sell new drugs they produce before cheaper generic competitors can enter the market.
Pharmaceutical companies have fiercely opposed any reduction in the minimum eight-year window, where they have “protection” over their research and data from clinical trials.
Ireland had previously sat in a middle camp which supported attaching some conditions to the length of this period…