A number of international drug companies today petitioned the High Court of Justice against the legal amendment signed by the then Minister of Health Shlomo Benizri, at the end of May, giving effect to regulations that permit parallel drug imports - i.e. import of drugs, other than directly from the manufacturer, and without its consent. The petitioners are Bristol Myers, Eli Lilly, Howard Evans, Johnson & Johnson and Merck.
The petitioners allege that the new regulations injure their property rights and should be annulled. The petition is directed against the Ministers of Health and Justice.
The companies allege that when the new regulations come into force on September 1, there will be a radical change of the normative situation in the import of drugs into Israel. They maintain that the regulations contravene Israeli patent laws.
According to the drug manufacturers, the regulations are liable to result in the unlawful enrichment of importers that have not registered the drugs, at the expense of those that have. The petition also alleges that parallel import will constitute a breach of Israel's international commitment to protect patent registration rights.
According to the international companies, the law was legislated due to pressures exerted by the health funds, whose sole objective was that of economic benefit, at the expense of injury to the petitioners' property rights.
It is further alleged that the change of policy sacrifices public health interests, in a manner unprecedented in the western world. This gives a dangerous opening for the introduction of defective or counterfeited drugs into Israel.
According to the companies, there is no justification for causing such severe injuries, since the reduction of drug prices, bringing them in line with European prices, can be achieved through price control orders. The companies are motioning the HCJ for an interlocutory injunction, preventing the regulations from taking force until the court's hearing of the petition is completed.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 27 July 2000