(AVN) Venice, April 12, 2018

The Regional Administrative Court of Veneto, with sentence no. 00138/2018 published on 9 April last, rejected an appeal brought by a drug manufacturer against the Veneto Region for the award of an equivalent drug for the treatment of HIV through a public tender, which took place at a price of 1.62 euros per tablet, compared to 13.29 euros for the previous supply, thus obtaining savings of around 5 million euros in two years.

The appellant company is the owner of an industrial property right, effective until February 2020, on a drug consisting of the combination of various active ingredients, and had appealed against the award to another company, called by the Region, for the supply of an "equivalent" medicine containing the combination of those active ingredients.

The appeal was rejected for technical aspects related to the appeal procedure, but the validity of the choice made by the Region and by Azienda Zero remains, which were sponsored, respectively, by the Regional Attorney (Lawyers Ezio Zanon and Emanuele Mio) and by Lawyer Chiara Cacciavillani.

“Aldilà degli aspetti tecnico-giuridici – sottolinea l’Assessore alla Sanità Luca Coletto – è estremamente positivo che si possano effettuare gare in concorrenza tra farmaci ‘griffati’ e ‘equivalenti’. In questo caso abbiamo ottenuto un farmaco importante evitando di spendere circa 5 milioni di euro che, di fatto, sono dei cittadini. L’utilizzo di un medicinale equivalente – aggiunge – è un grosso vantaggio per il Sistema Sanitario nazionale e Regionale dal momento che le risorse che si liberano possono essere rese disponibili per garantire l’accesso a terapie innovative per la cura di malattie ad oggi ancora con scarse opzioni terapeutiche”.

Veneto Regional Administrative Court. Judgment no. 00138/2018

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