Key Issues in Pharmaceuticals Law

The focus of Key Issues in Pharmaceuticals Law is on the ongoing achievement of an authentic world code for medicinal products – a so-called “Pharmacopoeia” – through scientific technical harmonization. The legal dimension of medicinal products conditions the whole sector and it acquires a global dimension through the demand to protect people’s health. Hence it is necessary to go forward to total harmonization of all its aspects. A global legal statute for medicinal products is justified by the very nature of the product, by its social control and the need for it to circulate freely, although limitations can be accepted, for reasons of solidarity with less favored populations. Awareness must arise that the challenge for healthcare is not going to find an adequate answer at the world level without a qualitative change in the world organization of the UN. The globalized world we live in demands reinforced continental solidarity, if we are to confront the common problems and bring about international order. A scientific technical code on the quality of medicinal products is essential for a statute on medicines. That code is the Pharmacopoeia.