A Ban on "Private Label" Generic Pharmaceuticals: Legal and Economic Context

Aslam H. Anis and Stephanie Harvard

International Journal of the Economics of Business, 2015, vol. 22, issue 2, 219-229

Abstract: In 2010, the Canadian province of Ontario passed regulations to prohibit pharmacy chains from selling their own "private label" (PL) generic drugs. Pharmacy chain owners Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation and Katz Group Canada challenged the regulations, stating they fell outside the purpose and authority of their overarching legislation that was meant to promote low drug prices. In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favor of the ban, prohibiting PL generic drugs in Ontario. However, the Supreme Court was limited to examining the legality of the ban, not its impact on drug prices. This article reviews the legal case and also discusses the likely impact of PL generics on drug prices, taking into consideration the competitive effects of vertical integration and the price-caps on generic drugs currently in place in Canada.

Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13571516.2015.1045738 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:22:y:2015:i:2:p:219-229

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CIJB20

DOI: 10.1080/13571516.2015.1045738

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of the Economics of Business is currently edited by Eleanor Morgan

More articles in International Journal of the Economics of Business from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().