The high cost of medicines in Ireland

摘要

The rise in expenditure on medicines in all Member States of the European Union over the past decade has focused attention increasingly on the issue of drug pricing. There are various systems that seek to control drug prices directly in these countries, including price cuts and freezes, price volume agreements, reference price systems and international price comparisons [1]. In Ireland there has been a price freeze on all prescription medications since 1993 [2]. Recent reports on the Irish healthcare system (e.g. [3,4]) highlight its increasing expenditure on prescription medicines. The price of medicines in Ireland is linked by formula to those in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This reflects a northern European price, which is generally higher than the European average.