Denmark is one of Europe’s most competitive nations when it comes to the availability and cost of generic drugs. A recent study by the European Commission found that competitive pricing and convenient access to generic drugs was keeping the costs low in Denmark.
The study discovered that the prices for medicine within the EU are so high because the pharmaceutical companies relentlessly battle against generic drug manufacturers, and nations occasionally sign deals that limit competition. Problems with regulation, such as the absence of a unified EU patent along with lengthy procedures for generic drugs approval, are creating unnecessarily high prices for medicine.
Denmark’s pricing policy, on the other hand, requires chemists to select drugs that are the least expensive to ensure generic medicine gets into the market quickly and effectively. Denmark also enjoys healthy competition between local producers of generic drugs, all to the benefit of the customer’s pocketbook.
“In Denmark the authorities have pursued a wise pricing policy because our subsidy system ensures that only the cheapest drugs are selected at the pharmacy,” commented Kjeld Moller Pedersen, a health economist and professor at the University of Southern Denmark, to the Copenhagen Post.
Within the EU it’s a different story. It’s a cutthroat industry where lawsuits and backroom deals take a higher priority over consideration for the health and finances of the individual. But EU officials are beginning to examine whether some of the methods used by the pharmaceutical industry are in fact legal and fair to their citizens.
See the full article at CPHPost.
Cost-containment pressures on organisations and healthcare services will lead to increased adoption of generic drugs substitution and prescribing practices in many EU Member States boosting value and volume for the industry.
In Denmark most issues related to pricing and reimbursement of drugs are placed centrally, however, with the Danish Medicines Agency, and in contrast to most of the health care system reimbursement is thoroughly grounded in legislation.
The European Commission has proposed a regulation that will allow the export of cheaper, generic drugs to “countries in need” that lack the capacity to produce cheap drugs themselves.
Congratulations!
We (rest of Europe) can learn a lot from the Scandinavian countries. I live in narrow-minded Belgium.