The transnational regulatory power of a national agency.

Summary The article questions the propensity of national regulatory schemes to shape the behavior and representations of "globalized" companies. To this end, we study the deployment of medico-economic evaluation agencies and their effects in the pharmaceutical sector. Within the industry, the adoption of expectations and evaluation methods specific to a single national agency located in England is observed. Two explanations for this situation are put forward. Firstly, the political work of the experts from the agency in question is revealed. Their presence in many international forums has enabled a significant enhancement of the regulatory standards used. Secondly, these initiatives provoked emulation within the industry. Convinced that the approaches of the British regulator were likely to become widespread, the industry gradually adopted their principles. The legitimacy they have been granted has in turn had an impact on drug development strategies and on the relationship between industry and other national regulatory agencies.