"This [legal] reform may create the possibility to implement the dual price system," says Elizabeth Planell, an attorney with Baker & McKenzie's Barcelona office. "The laboratory would be able to check whether the medicines sold to wholesale distributors are supplied in the Spanish market or sold abroad, and to identify the distributor or pharmacy involved in parallel-trade activities. They could thus decide to apply different prices for medicines to such distributors, depending on whether or not the medicines are supplied to patients in Spain."

Sarah Houlton, PhD,is Pharmaceutical Executive's global correspondent. She can be reached at sarah@owlmedia.co.uk