/ Competition in the pharmaceutical market: Chilean Senate expedites bill discussion

Since 2015, the so-called Bill “Drugs II” has been the focus of an important discussion about how to address the critical issue of advancing towards a more effective access to drugs and fostering a fairer competition in the pharmaceutical market, while still promoting the innovation and protection of intellectual property in this key industrial sector for the economy of Chile.

In November 2019, the National Economic Prosecutor (FNE) published an in-depth study on the drug market, showing significant results endorsing the vision of the bill, providing substantial data on entrenched asymmetries and problematic business practices of the pharmaceutical industry would be impacting the access to drugs by the Chilean population.

Several of the recommendations included in the FNE’s study are aimed at: instituting the obligations for doctors to prescribe drugs under the “International Common Denomination (ICD)” of the compound; boosting the bioequivalent drugs market, securing greater transparency in public bidding processes for the purchase of medicines by the National Health Service System (Cenabast); and allowing direct sales in establishments other than pharmacies as well as online purchase, among others.

Therefore, the Chamber of Deputies of the Congress has recently delivered the bill “Drugs II” to the Senate, to continue with the constitutional review and eventual approval. The Executive power, at its turn, has assigned urgency to the bill to expedite the legislative discussions.

Francesca Rodríguez

Senior Associate