Affordability of medicines in the European Union

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

Medications and their prices are key issues for healthcare. Although access to medicines at affordable prices had been specified as a key objective of the European Health Policy, it seems that these goals have not been achieved. Therefore, we attempted an evaluation of affordability of selected medicines at full prices.

Methods

The analysis concerned 2012 and was conducted between 2013 and 2015 in all the European Union (EU) countries divided into 3 groups depending on the date of their accession to the EU. Finally, we considered 9 originators used in the treatment of schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis. Information on drug prices were collected from pharmacies. Participation in the study was voluntary and anonymous in order to avoid accusations of advertising. To evaluate affordability, several factors were used (e.g. minimum earnings and Gini coefficient). Due to unavailability in some countries, the exact number of analyzed medicines varies.

Results

Drug prices vary significantly between EU Member States. Almost eleven fold difference was observed between Germany (EUR 1451.17) and Croatia (EUR 132.77) in relation to Interferone beta-1a 22 μg. Generally, prices were the highest in Germany. The cheapest drugs were found in various countries but never in the poorest ones like Bulgaria or Romania. Discrepancies in wages were observed too (the smallest minimum wage was EUR 138.00 in Bulgaria and the highest EUR 1801.00 in Luxembourg). Full price of olanzapine 5mg, however, was higher in Bulgaria (EUR 64.53) than, for instance, in Belgium (EUR 37.26).

Conclusions

Analyzed medications are still unaffordable for many citizens of the EU. Besides, access to medicines is also impaired e.g. due to parallel trade. Unaffordability of medications may lead to the patients’ non-compliance and therefore to increased direct and indirect costs of treatment. Common European solutions are needed to achieve a real affordability and accessibility of medications.

Related collections

Most cited references 23

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

The global costs of schizophrenia.

Martin Knapp, Judit Simon, Roshni Mangalore (2003)

Schizophrenia is a chronic disease associated with a significant and long-lasting health, social, and financial burden, not only for patients but also for families, other caregivers, and the wider society. Many national and local studies have sought to estimate the societal burden of the illness--or some components of it--in monetary terms. Findings vary. We systematically reviewed the literature to locate all existing international estimates to date. Sixty-two relevant studies were found and summarized. Within- and between-country differences were analyzed descriptively. Despite the wide diversity of data sets and methods applied, all cost-of-illness estimates highlight the heavy societal burden of schizophrenia. Such information helps us to understand the health, health care, economic, and policy importance of schizophrenia, and to better interpret and explain the large within- and across-country differences that exist.

0 comments Cited 61 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Essential Medicines Are More Available than Other Medicines around the Globe

Yaser T. Bazargani, Margaret Ewen, Anthonius de Boer … (2014)

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes the development of national Essential Medicines Lists (EMLs) in order to improve the availability and use of medicines considered essential within health care systems. However, despite over 3 decades of international efforts, studies show an inconsistent pattern in the availability of essential medicines. We evaluated and compared the availability of essential medicines, and medicines not included in national EMLs, at global and regional levels. Methods Medicine availability in the public and private sector were calculated based on data obtained from national and provincial facility-based surveys undertaken in 23 countries using the WHO/HAI methodology. The medicines were grouped according to their inclusion (‘essential’) or exclusion (termed ‘non-essential’) in each country’s EML current at the time of the survey. Availability was calculated for originator brands, generics and any product type (originator brands or generics) and compared between the two groups. Results were aggregated by WHO regions, World Bank country income groups, a wealth inequality measure, and therapeutic groups. Findings Across all sectors and any product type, the median availability of essential medicines was suboptimal at 61·5% (IQR 20·6%–86·7%) but significantly higher than non-essential medicines at 27·3% (IQR 3·6%–70·0%). The median availability of essential medicines was 40·0% in the public sector and 78·1% in the private sector; compared to 6·6% and 57·1% for non-essential medicines respectively. A reverse trend between national income level categories and the availability of essential medicines was identified in the public sector. Interpretation EMLs have influenced the provision of medicines and have resulted in higher availability of essential medicines compared to non-essential medicines particularly in the public sector and in low and lower middle income countries. However, the availability of essential medicines, especially in the public sector does not ensure equitable access.

0 comments Cited 54 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Differences in external price referencing in Europe: a descriptive overview.

Christine Leopold, Sabine Vogler, A.K. Mantel-Teeuwisse … (2012)

This study aimed to provide an up-to-date description as well as comparative analysis of the national characteristics of pharmaceutical external price referencing (EPR) in Europe. Review of the country-specific PPRI (Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Information) Pharma Profiles written by representatives of the PPRI Network. The Profiles were analysed according to predefined criteria. Of 28 analysed European countries 24 applied EPR in 2010. The majority of countries have statutory rules to implement EPR. Most countries had less than 10 countries in their reference baskets. Higher income countries tend to include higher income countries in their basket, whereas lower income countries refer to lower income countries. Taking the average price of all countries in the basket as the basis to calculate the national price was the most common strategy (n=8). The methodology of EPR has changed in most European countries over the past 10 years (n=19). EPR is a widely used pricing policy in Europe and is still actively used as well as adjusted by national authorities. However, we still see room for improvement by implementing more detailed legislations in terms of the revision of prices and by identifying alternative countries in case a product is not on the market. We also see the need for formal information sharing (e.g. congresses dedicated to pricing strategies and systems) with other public pricing authorities to learn about the different EPR methodologies as well as the national experiences. These congresses might also give room to better understand national pricing methods including discussions on possible limitations of these pricing methods. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

0 comments Cited 36 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Tomasz Bochenek: Role: Editor

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS One

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): PLoS ONE

Journal ID (publisher-id): plos

Journal ID (pmc): plosone

Title: PLoS ONE

Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )

ISSN (Electronic): 1932-6203

Publication date (Electronic): 27 February 2017

Publication date Collection: 2017

Volume: 12

Issue: 2

Electronic Location Identifier: e0172753

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland

[2 ]Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland

[3 ]Student Scientific Society, Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland

Jagiellonian University, POLAND

Author notes

Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Conceptualization: TZ DK EN.
Data curation: TZ KK.
Formal analysis: TZ KK EN.
Funding acquisition: TZ KK PM.
Investigation: TZ DK MN IA PM.
Methodology: TZ EN.
Project administration: TZ DK EN.
Resources: TZ.
Software: TZ KK.
Supervision: TZ EN.
Validation: TZ.
Visualization: TZ.
Writing – original draft: TZ.
Writing – review & editing: TZ EN.

* E-mail: tomekzaprutko@ 123456ump.edu.pl

Article

Publisher ID: PONE-D-16-29366

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172753

PMC ID: 5328386

PubMed ID: 28241019

SO-VID: ffde6248-915e-4e76-bd6c-5e29f145c96e

License:

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

History

Date received : 10 August 2016

Date accepted : 28 January 2017

Page count

Figures: 0, Tables: 3, Pages: 13

Funding

We would like to thank Aegate Ltd (Sp. z o.o. branch in Poland), for their support in paying the open access fee. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Custom metadata

Data Availability All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Affordability of medicines in the European Union

Read this article at

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Related collections

PLOS Climate

Most cited references 23

The global costs of schizophrenia.

Essential Medicines Are More Available than Other Medicines around the Globe

Differences in external price referencing in Europe: a descriptive overview.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Article

History

Page count

Funding

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 149

Cited by 10

Most referenced authors 246