No definitivo a las ATEs. Los medicamentos distintos no deben agruparse en un mismo lote

The new Spanish law on public tenders promotes the division of the contract into lots “as long as the nature or object of the contract allows such division”. The previous rule, which imposed that a justification was given when the contract was divided into lots, is reversed and replaced by the new rule, which only requires a justification by the contracting body when it decides not to divide the contract into lots.

However, the division of the contract into lots is not exempt from control and must only take place when the nature or object of the contract allows it, without forgetting that the object of the contract must be well suited in order to achieve the needs which must be satisfied and that contracting bodies must only enter into contracts that are necessary for the fulfillment of their purposes.

In a tender for the purchase of medicinal products, the need which must be satisfied is guaranteeing the right of patients to the pharmaceutical provision and the right of healthcare professionals to prescribe the medicinal product they consider to be the most appropriate, even in case there are alternative solutions in the market.

Satisfying both rights requires that lots are not configured according to therapeutic indications when such configuration involves grouping in the same lots medicinal products whose qualitative and quantitative composition is not identical. This requirement is even more important in case such configuration involves grouping in the same lot medicines that cannot be substituted without express authorization by the prescribing doctor and without the patient’s prior consent.