• Fernando Antoñanzas, Roberto Rodríguez, José Antonio Sacristán, and Rafael Illa.
• Universidad de La Rioja, Logroño, La Rioja, Spain. fernando.antonanzas@dee.unirioja.es
• Gac Sanit. 2005 Mar 1; 19 (2): 151-67.

ObjectivesTo characterize the peculiar economic nature of the pharmaceutical market in the EU, to study potential groupings of countries based on several pharmaceutical variables, to analyze some recent regulations designed to create the single market, and to present some thoughts on the decision making process in public health from the perspective of current public health budgets.MethodWe performed an economic analysis of health and pharmaceutical macrovariables, cluster analysis, review of EU pharmaceutical and industrial regulations and review of pharmaceutical budgeting legislation in the member states.ResultsThe pharmaceutical market of the EU was characterized and EU countries were classified into two principal groups according to 5 selected variables. EU regulations tend to promote R + D and drug production and thus the EU industrial sector is backed up. National regulations differ in terms of pricing and drugs reimbursement.ConclusionsThe creation of a single market for drugs in the EU should take this regulatory diversity into account and seek equilibrium between economic factors and public health. This single market may be a dangerous strategy if it becomes a general dogma and even more so if deadlines are fixed and short.

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