The European Union (EU) is the pioneer of parallel trade in the world. Parallel trade within the Union is carried out within the framework of the common economic market and the principle of free movement of goods. However, on the other hand, debates and lawsuits on the subject continue. For example, parallel trading of drugs is prohibited in some countries, including the United States.

In our country, medicine export is made within the scope of the document taken from the Ministry of Health, stating that it does not contain narcotics and psychotropic substances, through drug companies, pharmaceutical warehouses and foreign trade companies that have a responsible manager.
Within the framework of the current “Regulation on Pharmaceutical Warehouses and Products Available in Pharmaceutical Warehouses”, pharmaceutical warehouses can sell the products to pharmacies, other pharmaceutical warehouses and the buyers abroad. In this case, in our country the export of the products that pharmaceutical warehouses procured from pharmaceutical manufacturers or other pharmaceutical warehouses remains within the scope of the legislation.

The illegal part is the procurement of prescription medicine from pharmacies without prescription and collectively by exporting pharmaceutical warehouses, although it is prohibited under the “Regulation on Pharmacists and Pharmacies”. Although there is no obstacle to the export of these products through pharmaceutical warehouses, there are many drawbacks.
It is not possible to monitor by the licensed pharmaceutical companies whether the distribution of these medicine to the countries in question and within the country is performed in accordance with the rules of “Good Distribution Practices” (GDP), which is an international requirement in terms of drugs. This harms our country's pharmaceutical manufacturers and the country's brand perception. 
In addition, as I underlined in my previous article, pharmaceutical companies license their medicine at the highest possible price after undertaking 2-3 years of serious and high costs efforts in the country they will export. It is not over; related companies share their profits by working exclusively with local distributors to promote and distribute these medicine to healthcare professionals. They enter to the market by affording material and spiritual burdens.
On the other hand, some pharmaceutical warehouses procure the products of exporting pharmaceutical companies from Turkish market and they can sell it much cheaper than the price that the company set for this market because they don’t have additional costs such as licensing and promotional expenses. In this case, the pharmaceutical company investing in the country in question gets stuck in a difficult situation against both the country's health authorities and business partners in the country. The pharmaceutical company reduces the price of the product or withdraws from the market. As a result, our export is negatively affected. The perception of Turkey gets damaged.