In conducting the public trial of the pharmaceutical industry on Friday 28 November, Neelie Kroes has once again shown her determination to see both the spirit and the letter of competition law respected. No one should reproach her for this. That is what she is paid for. That said, it is only right to wonder about how useful it was to go about things as she has. There is nothing wrong with making the industry face up to its responsibilities, but was it necessary to organise a public trial? Why have a go at this sector rather than another? Innovative companies certainly pull as many strings as they can to delay the entry of generic medicines to European markets. The preliminary report drawn up by Kroes' staff only confirms this and estimates that savings of €3 billion could be made if generic medicines were able to come onto the market more quickly. Kroes hastens to note that this is money paid by patients and tax payers. It is no doubt always good to be thrifty, but the amount is less than it might appear. In fact it is €3 billion over the period from 2000 to 2007, or, put another way €430 million per year, or again, savings of less than €1 per person per year in the EU. In fact, the problem of medicines is much more complex than simply competition between innovative companies and producers of generic medicines, which, it should be said in passing, are often one and the same. As Ms Kroes very rightly says (see article in our newsletter), we - the patients - need safe, innovative and affordable medicines. If we follow that logic, we have to move step by step. In other words, there is no point in talking about prices if we don't have a medicine. The prime role of the European Commission and member states should, in my opinion, be to support research and medical innovation far more than they do. We are aware of the statistics. With regard to the market and prices, it is illusory and, I feel, dishonest to claim to be serving European patients by dealing with competition in a completely fragmented and highly regulated market. The only real solution would come from the completion of the internal medicines market and single European pricing. However, it continues to suit people to have borders: national administrations, jealous of their final responsibility, the industry which can apply different prices to different markets, parallel traders who live from this. That's the fight that has to be won! (O.J.)