• Pharmacies in Sweden - From State-owned Monopoly to Deregulation
• FDA Takes Next Step in Establishing Overseas Presence

Pharmacies in Sweden - From State-owned Monopoly to Deregulation
 
Apoteket AB - is a state-owned pharmacy monopoly formed under the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. There has been a lot of debates about the future of the enterprise. In 2006, the newly elected centre-right alliance government declared that Apoteket AB will be broken up to face free competition. It is expected that the pharmacy monopoly will end by January 1, 2009.
This is a stark departure from full-monopoly to a truly deregulated system whereby “anybody, except manufacturers and prescribers” will be allowed to own a pharmacy if a licence from the medical products agency is granted.
There will be a lot of adjustment with this change. The current model - where pharmaceutical benefits board (LFN) will still set retail prices and provide reimbursements; discounts are prohibited – will still prevail. The changes will be far ranging with distributors eventually be negotiating prices with more buyers, and more rooms for generics and parallel importers.

FDA Takes Next Step in Establishing Overseas Presence

With the recurring safety issues on product safety, the US FDA has been forced to expand overseas. One of the moves was to establish offices in China. In an important development, the FDA has received approval from the U.S. State Department to establish eight full time permanent FDA positions at U.S. diplomatic posts in China, pending consent from the Chinese government.  

This is an important step forward in the FDA's plans to hire and place FDA staff in China over the next 18 months. In addition, the FDA will be hiring a total of five local Chinese nationals to work with the new FDA staff at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the U.S. Consulates General in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Building the FDA's capacity outside of the United States supports the agency's "Beyond our Borders" initiative. The initiative facilitates the building of stronger cooperative relationships with the FDA's counterpart agencies around the world and enhanced technical cooperation with foreign regulators. The permanent overseas offices in China will also allow greater access for inspections and greater interactions with manufacturers to help assure that products that are shipped to the United States meet U.S. standards for safety and manufacturing quality.

For additional information on the FDA's international programs, please visit: http://www.fda.gov/oia/overview.html. For more information on the historic Memoranda of Agreement signed in December 2007, between the United States and The People's Republic of China, please visit: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2007pres/12/pr20071211a.html.

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