BULLETIN MNS October 2009 PHARMACEUTICAL STARTING MATERIALS MARKET NEWS SERVICE (MNS) BI -MONTHLY EDITION Market News Service Pharmaceutical Starting Materials/Essential Drugs October 2009, Issue 5 The Market News Service (MNS) is made available free of charge to all Trade Support Institutions and enterprises in Sub-Saharan African countries under a joint programme of the International Trade Centre and CBI, the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (www.cbi.nl). Should you be interested in becoming an information provider and contributing to MNS' efforts to improve market transparency and facilitate trade, please contact us at
[email protected]. This issue continues the series, started at the beginning of the year, focusing on the leading markets in various world regions. This issue covers the trends and recent developments in eastern European pharmaceutical markets. To subscribe to the report or to access MNS reports directly online, please contact
[email protected] or visit our website at: http://www.intracen.org/mns. Copyright © MNS/ITC 2007. All rights reserved 1 Market News Service Pharmaceutical Starting Materials Introduction WHAT IS THE MNS FOR PHARMACEUTICAL STARTING MATERIALS/ESSENTIAL DRUGS? In 1986, the World Health Assembly laid before the Organization the responsibility to provide price information on pharmaceutical starting materials. WHA 39.27 endorsed WHO‟s revised drug strategy, which states “... strengthen market intelligence; support drug procurement by developing countries...” The responsibility was reaffirmed at the 49th WHA in 1996. Resolution WHA 49.14 requests the Director General, under paragraph 2(6) “to strengthen market intelligence, review in collaboration with interested parties‟ information on prices and sources of information on prices of essential drugs and starting material of good quality, which meet requirements of internationally recognized pharmacopoeias or equivalent regulatory standards, and provide this information to member states”.