Author: André Vieira

Source: Valor Econômico - SP - 06/10/2009

André Vieira, from São Paulo

With the extinct of the Brazilian Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry (Febrafarma), the main drug manufacturing companies in the country decided to reinforce the performance of the Pharmaceutical Products Industry Union in the State of São Paulo (Sindusfarma).

The intention is to bring together consensus issues among all companies in the sector within the union. “Sindusfarma will not be the representative of the industry, but it will help to address issues where there is convergence”, says the union's executive vice president, Nelson Mussolini, recently appointed to the position.

According to Mussolini, who worked at the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis and at the Brazilian laboratory Eurofarma, Sindusfarma will also help entities in their dialogue with the government. On the agenda, topics such as the adoption of traceability of medicines, tax changes (such as the introduction of tax substitution and electronic invoices) in addition to the new rules for the instructions for medicines. "Discussions on drug patents will be left out, because other entities are already working on the topic," he explained.

Sindusfarma, founded in 1933, today brings together 114 member companies. Drug manufacturers represent approximately more than 80% of the pharmaceutical sector's revenue, which handles more than R $ 20 billion per year.

Febrafarma, a federation that brought together 15 entities, which included everything from Interfarma (multinational research laboratories) to Pró-Genericos (manufacturers of copies), ended its activities at the end of August after a decade of activity. A brief statement was distributed, informing its extinction, without justifying the reasons. According to Valor, the entity had lost its initial purpose, turned to the defense of the sector during the CPI of Medicines in Congress and price control.