Europäischer Preisvergleich für patentgeschützte Arzneimittel

WHO and Health Action International (HAI) have developed a standardised method for surveying medicine prices, availability, affordability, and price components in low-income and middle-income countries. Here, we present a secondary analysis of medicine availability in 45 national and subnational surveys done using the WHO/HAI methodology. Data from 45 WHO/HAI surveys in 36 countries were adjusted for inflation or deflation and purchasing power parity. International reference prices from open international procurements for generic products were used as comparators. Results are presented for 15 medicines included in at least 80% of surveys and four individual medicines. Average public sector availability of generic medicines ranged from 29.4% to 54.4% across WHO regions. Median government procurement prices for 15 generic medicines were 1.11 times corresponding international reference prices, although purchasing efficiency ranged from 0.09 to 5.37 times international reference prices. Low procurement prices did not always translate into low patient prices. Private sector patients paid 9-25 times international reference prices for lowest-priced generic products and over 20 times international reference prices for originator products across WHO regions. Treatments for acute and chronic illness were largely unaffordable in many countries. In the private sector, wholesale mark-ups ranged from 2% to 380%, whereas retail mark-ups ranged from 10% to 552%. In countries where value added tax was applied to medicines, the amount charged varied from 4% to 15%. Overall, public and private sector prices for originator and generic medicines were substantially higher than would be expected if purchasing and distribution were efficient and mark-ups were reasonable. Policy options such as promoting generic medicines and alternative financing mechanisms are needed to increase availability, reduce prices, and improve affordability.

Cancer drugs challenge health-care systems because of their high prices. No cross-country price comparison of cancer drugs for a large number of countries has been published. We aimed to survey the prices of cancer drugs in high-income countries (Europe, Australia, and New Zealand).

This paper compares pharmaceutical spending, availability, use, and prices in twelve countries in 2005. Drug spending per capita was higher in the United States than in other countries. The United States had relatively high use of new drugs and high-strength formulations; other countries used more of older drugs and weaker formulations. Thus, whether U.S. overall volume of use is lower or higher depends on the measure of volume and type of product. Comprehensive price indexes show foreign prices to be 20-40 percent lower than U.S. manufacturer prices, but only 10-30 percent lower than U.S. public prices. Generics are cheaper in the United States than in other countries.