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On the Effect of Parallel Trade on Manufacturers’ and Retailers’ Profits in the Pharmaceutical Sector

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Abstract
Differences in regulated pharmaceutical prices within the European Economic Area create arbitrage opportunities that pharmacy retailers can use through parallel imports. For prescription drugs under patent, such provision decisions affect the sharing of profits among an innovating pharmaceutical company, retailers, and parallel traders. We develop a structural model of demand and supply in which retailers can choose the set of goods to sell to consumers, thus foreclosing the consumers’ access to some less-profitable drugs, which allows retailers to bargain and obtain lower wholesale prices with the manufacturer and parallel trader. With detailed transaction data, we identify a demand model with unobserved choice sets using supply-side conditions for optimal assortment decisions of pharmacies. Estimating our model, we find that retailer incentives play a significant role in fostering parallel trade penetration. Our counterfactual simulations show that parallel imports of drugs allows retailers to gain profits at the expense of the manufacturer, whereas parallel traders also gain but earn more modest profits. Finally, a policy preventing pharmacies from foreclosing the manufacturer’s product is demonstrated to partially shift profits from pharmacists to both the parallel trader and the manufacturer, and a reduction in the regulated retail price favors the manufacturer even more.

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  • Dubois, Pierre & Sæthre, Morten, 2017. "On the Effect of Parallel Trade on Manufacturers’ and Retailers’ Profits in the Pharmaceutical Sector," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 3/2018, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2018_003
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    Cited by:

    1. Friberg, Richard & Steen, Frode & Ulsaker, Simen Aardal, 2024. "Cross-border shopping of alcohol – What is the effect on tax revenue and sales and which products are most affected?," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 12/2024, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    2. Donna, Javier D. & Pereira, Pedro & Trindade, Andre & Yoshida, Renan C., 2020. "Direct-to-Consumer Sales by Manufacturers and Bargaining," MPRA Paper 105773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Sharat Ganapati & Rebecca McKibbin, 2019. "Non-Tariff Barriers and Bargaining in Generic Pharmaceuticals," Working Papers gueconwpa~18-18-23, Georgetown University, Department of Economics.
    4. Laura Birg, 2023. "Pharmaceutical regulation under market integration through parallel trade," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1322-1346, November.
    5. Pierre Dubois & Morten Sæthre, 2020. "On the Effect of Parallel Trade on Manufacturers' and Retailers' Profits in the Pharmaceutical Sector," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(6), pages 2503-2545, November.
    6. David Bardey & Denis Gromb & David Martimort & Jérôme Pouyet, 2020. "Controlling Sellers Who Provide Advice: Regulation and Competition," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 409-444, September.
    7. David Bardey & Denis Gromb & David Martimort & Jérôme Pouyet, 2016. "Drugs, Showrooms and Financial Products: Competition and Regulation when Sellers Provide Expert Advice," PSE Working Papers halshs-01400841, HAL.
    8. Atal, Juan Pablo & Cuesta, Jose Ignacio & Sæthre, Morten, 2018. "Quality Regulation and Competition: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Markets," Research Department working papers 1211, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    9. Dubois, P.; & Majewska, G.; & Reig, V.;, 2023. "Drug Shortages: Empirical Evidence from France," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 23/07, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    10. Martimort, David & Pouyet, Jérôme, 2024. "Why Is Exclusivity in Broadcasting Rights Prevalent and Why Does Simple Regulation Fail?," TSE Working Papers 24-1501, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Jul 2024.
    11. Aljoscha Janssen, 2022. "Price dynamics of Swedish pharmaceuticals," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 313-351, December.
    12. Pierre Dubois & Ashvin Gandhi & Shoshana Vasserman, 2022. "Bargaining and International Reference Pricing in the Pharmaceutical Industry," NBER Working Papers 30053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Gianluca Antonecchia & Ajay Bhaskarabhatla & Enrico Pennings, 2024. "Bargaining Power and Quantity Discounts to Retailers: Evidence from India’s Pharmaceutical Industry," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-048/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Dubois, Pierre & Majewska, Gosia & Reig, Valentina, 2023. "Drug Shortages: Empirical Evidence from France," TSE Working Papers 23-1417, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    15. Kyle, Margaret K., 2022. "Incentives for pharmaceutical innovation: What’s working, what’s lacking," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    16. Martimort, David & Pouyet, Jerome, 2022. "Why Is Exclusivity in Broadcasting Rights Prevalent and Why Does Simple Regulation Fail?," CEPR Discussion Papers 17446, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Leautier, Thomas-Olivier, 2018. "On the long-term impact price caps: Investment, uncertainty, imperfect competition, and rationing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 53-95.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Parallel trade; Pharmaceuticals; vertical contracts; demand estimation; foreclosure.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure

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