The Executive President of Interfarma - Association of the Pharmaceutical Research Industry, Antônio Britto, and the Executive President of the Brazilian Institute of Competitive Ethics (ETCO), Roberto Abdenur, sealed, on October 18th, an agreement by which Interfarma returns to be part of the Institute's Sectorial Chamber of Medicines, which also has Eurofarma, Medley and Cristália.

After a period of negotiations, Interfarma returns to the membership of the ETCO Sectorial Chamber of Medicines. From now on, the companies associated with Interfarma that were already part of the Chamber will be represented by the Association in the decisions and actions developed by ETCO.

“The re-association of Interfarma, which is arguably the legitimate interlocutor of the 43 companies it currently represents, will bring an operational gain that will be reflected in greater effectiveness in the defense of competitive ethics and in combating informality, counterfeiting and smuggling, which unfortunately are strongly present in the medicine sector ”, points out Roberto Abdenur.

For the Executive President of Interfarma, Antônio Britto, “it is, in fact, a new stage in the relationship with ETCO, since many of the companies represented by us have always been associated with the Institute”. He also explains that “Interfarma associates account for almost 80% of the reference drugs and for more than 40% of the generics, that is, more than half of the drugs sold in the country, and the work developed by ETCO is extremely important in this sector , where illegality is a risk to public health ”.

The ETCO Sectorial Chamber of Medicines, now composed of Interfarma, Eurofarma, Medley and Cristália, was created in 2005, based on a set of measures identified by the study “Informality in the Pharmaceutical Sector: Barriers to the Growth of the Brazilian Economy and Health Risk Pública ”, conducted by McKinsey & Company and Pinheiro Neto Advogados. This was one of the Institute's main contributions to the fight against illegalities practiced in the Brazilian medicine market. With the same objective, ETCO and the companies associated with the Chamber delivered to Anvisa the Final Report of the pilot project of the Electronic System for the Tracking and Authenticity of Medicines, aiming to support the agency in the regulation of the National Medicines Control System.

“ETCO is a reference in the struggle for more justice and seriousness in the country, and has been responsible for the most successful initiatives aimed at abandoning old practices that are incompatible with the social and economic development of Brazil”, concludes Britto.