Provide names of other journalists involved.
Allison Connolly and Stryker McGuire
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
14-Mar-12
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
The European Union’s single market, combined with a lack of political integration, has had unexpected results in the sale of pharmaceuticals. In “Medicine Man,” Bloomberg reporter Andrea Gerlin shows these surprises in her profile of EurimPharm CEO Andreas Mohringer published in Bloomberg Markets magazine. While the European Commission approves drugs for sale across the 27-nation bloc, individual nations still play the dominant role in setting prices. That’s led to a wide variation in drug prices across the EU. As Gerlin reports, it also created opportunities for entrepreneurs such as Mohringer to buy inexpensive products in one market and sell them in another at a higher price. Pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline say the practice of so-called parallel trade leads to medicine shortages, while proponents point to the savings reaped by consumers from lower prices. Gerlin’s article also illuminates the anomalies in drug-company pricing. As Mohringer points out, the parallel trade would dry up if pharmaceutical makers priced drugs consistently across Europe — something they won’t do. Gerlin showed how the Austrian pharmacist undercut drug companies’ prices on their own products to build a business so successful that it provided the means to indulge his love of rare Ferraris.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Gerlin used publicly available data from the website of the EU’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, as well as market data and documents from private sources. No FOI or public records act requests were required.
Explain types of human sources used.
Gerlin interviewed parallel traders, academics, regulators and industry executives.
Results:
None.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
Bloomberg Markets has not run a correction or clarification on the report, nor has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
None.