CZECH PRICING FAILS TO SATISFY DRUG SECTOR
In recent years, research-based drugmakers in the Czech Republic have continued to protest government cost-cutting measures. The Czech Republic's reimbursement levels are strictly controlled by the government and prices are among the lowest in Europe. Key forms of alleged discrimination include the fact that more expensive drugs require patient co-payments, and the reimbursement list is heavily slanted towards locally made generics.
MAFS, a group representing many foreign research-based drugmakers, has even filed a complaint with the European Commission over the country's reimbursement policies. The complaint alleges that the government provides unfair advantages to domestic pharmaceutical companies, which produce medicines at much cheaper rates than their foreign competitors. Key to this was the recent decision by the Health Minister to remove the country's price-setting panel and assume personal responsibility for pharmaceutical pricing in the Czech Republic.
MAFS claims that the move violates both European and Czech law. However, the country has not yet incorporated the European Union pharmaceutical pricing directive into national law. While the adoption of this measure will be inevitable in the longer term, the government's recent actions illustrate the seriousness of the threat facing the sector. Notably, even generics makers' group CSFF has reportedly sounded a note of concern over pricing matters.
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