Source: ETCO, 17/10/2007

In order to participate in the discussion of the most relevant topics in the pharmaceutical sector, the Executive President of the Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition - ETCO, Professor André Franco Montoro Filho and the Executive Director, Patrícia Blanco, were present at the 33rd National Trade Convention Pharmacist (Convenfarma), which took place from October 9th to 11th in Brasília.

The event brought together authorities, among them the Federal Revenue Secretary, José Antônio Rachid, the President of the Federal Pharmacy Council, Jaldo de Souza Santos, the Health Secretary of the DF, José Roberto Maciel and the Vice-governor of the DF, Paulo Otávio , entrepreneurs such as Heraldo Marchezini, president of Sanofi-Aventis, and entities in the sector to debate on universal access to medicines in Brazil.

On this topic, Senator Adelmir Santana estimated that the greater the number of people who have access to medicines, the less governments will spend on public health. This is because people who are unable to buy drugs end up being seen in hospitals twice. In the first, they go for a consultation and receive a medical prescription, but as they have no money to buy the prescribed drugs, they see their clinical condition aggravated and return to the hospital.

Journalist Carlos Alberto Sardenberg, on the other hand, spoke about the good moment that the Brazilian economy is experiencing and the business opportunities for the retail of medicines.

The President of the Interfarma Advisory Council, Jorge Raimundo, stated that one of the biggest problems to expand the population's access to medicines is the fact that Brazil is the world champion when it comes to the tax burden. While medicines are exempt from taxes in countries like England, the United States, Colombia and Venezuela, the Brazilian government keeps 28% of everything collected by the pharmaceutical sector.

For Professor André Franco Montoro Filho, Executive President of ETCO, combating the informal market and tax evasion needs to be prioritized. "The event showed that the pharmaceutical industry is willing to participate actively, together with ETCO, in the implementation of solutions to the sector's problems".