MULTINATIONALS LAUNCH NEW ATTACK ON HUNGARY HEALTH

MAFS, a group representing foreign research-based firms in Hungary, has launched a fresh attack on the health ministry's allegedly discriminatory pricing regime. The association has highlighted legal irregularities in a new ruling on drug reimbursement.

On July 1, Hungary expanded its pricing system to a further 2,000 products, offering the same level of reimbursement for every product in each therapeutic class. The move will favour lower-cost generics, many of which are produced by the sizeable domestic manufacturing industry. National reimbursement fund OEP hopes the measure will save it some US$20mn by the end of the year.

MAFS now claims that the health ministry failed to publish the evaluation criteria behind the new reimbursement structure. Hungary's drug pricing is becoming a heated issue, as industry groups have filed an official complaint with the European Union (EU), alleging that the new pricing structure violates EU Directive 89/105 EEC (the so-called transparency directive). A ruling is expected later this month.

Further, the industry continues to shoulder the massive impact of last year's price freeze, which was thrown out by the Constitutional Court. Additional concern surrounds the government's decision to oblige the industry to shoulder budget overspends by the OEP, which is estimated at US$20mn per month.