Healthy Skepticism Library item: 19617

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Publication type: Government Document

Prescription For Turkey's Pharmaceuticals Market
Istanbul: Wikileaks 2006 July 5
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2006/07/06ISTANBUL1209.html

Notes:

Cable from
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5397

Full text:

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 001209

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE
COMMERCE FOR CRUSNACK
DEPARTMENT PASS USTR FOR LERRION

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD EINV PGOV TU
SUBJECT: PRESCRIPTION FOR TURKEY’S PHARMACEUTICALS MARKET

¶1. (SBU) Summary. At a June 9 meeting in Istanbul,
American pharmaceutical company directors expressed
satisfaction that Turkey remained on the 2006 Special 301
Priority Watch List but told Ambassador Wilson that
inadequate patent protection and an absence of transparency
in the GOT,s health bureaucracy continue to stymie U.S.
market access. Current facilitator for the Local American
Working Group (LAWG) and Merck Director Jeff Kemprecos argued
that the GOT,s continued reimbursement of medical costs
related to “over the counter” generic remedies, including
gingko products, was costing the GOT about USD 50 million a
year and effectively limiting patient access to more
effective innovative medicines. At the same time, Kemprecos
said, Turkey spent less per capita on pharmaceuticals than
its European comparator countries. A shift in GOT practices,
he suggested, could result in significant additional foreign
investment in Turkey, along the lines of the “Irish miracle,”
with U.S. companies choosing to produce drugs here. End
summary.

¶2. (SBU) Managing directors and representatives of
Schering-Plough, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Pfizer, Johnson &
Johnson, Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott, Pfizer and
Wyeth Laboratories discussed with Ambassador Wilson the
challenges facing American pharmaceutical companies in
Turkey, including IPR violations and potential molecular
theft, the absence of regulatory transparency and efficiency,
and unfair competitive practices and limited patient access
to innovative medicines due to lack of funding. Despite
steady growth in the dollar value of all OTC and prescription
medicines sold in Turkey over ten years, LAWG facilitator
Jeff Kemprecos said these issues continue to thwart industry
growth in Turkey.

¶3. (SBU) Lilly Managing Director Jeremy Morgan asked that the United States continue to use its diplomatic leverage with Turkey to press for improvement in IPR protection, regulatory transparency, and the dropping of arbitrary restrictions in manufacturing, noting that this could lead to major pharmaceutical investment capital for Turkey. Citing the Irish example, Morgan and Kemprecos argued that Turkey has the potential to become a major manufacturing point for European and Middle East markets. As it was, some of the problems in the Turkish pharmaceuticals market lead directly to the loss of USD 50 million annually in health care expenditures on useless product. A shift to innovative and proven prescription drugs, they said, is in the long-term interest not only of patient health, but of controlling health care costs.

¶4. (SBU) Ambassador Wilson noted the importance of staying
the course on Turkey,s macro-economic progress and the need
to implement further economic reforms; one of the IMF,s
areas for improvement had been Turkey,s subsidies for
consumer health expenditures. He added that part of the U.S.
approach on issues of importance to the pharmaceutical
industry would be to work closely with the Europeans.

¶5. (SBU) Ambassador also explained the mission’s efforts on
behalf of U.S. pharmaceutical companies in Turkey.
Currently, embassy officials are working closely with their
EU counterparts to coordinate our messages about the
importance of data protection. In addition to frequent
meetings with the MOH, who has ultimate control over data
protection and pricing and reimbursement decisions, we also
discuss the issue periodically with officials from the
Foreign Trade Undersecretariat (FTU), who is responsible for
ensuring that Turkey meets its international, including WTO
and TRIPS, obligations. We are currently supporting a
dialogue between company representatives and FTU officials
that would not only provide the opportunity to discuss their
concerns but also to present their vision for enhanced
investment in Turkey if these problems are eliminated. At
the same time, Ambassador alsocautioned that Turkey has
already entered a pre-election political mode; as in the
U.S., governments during these periods are often distracted
or focused on addressing constituent demands. The Ambassador
counseled the pharmaceutical directors to position their
companies and industry now for post-election progress in a
more pragmatic political atmosphere.

JONES