2.23.2013

Spanish Ministry warns of excessive pricing of cancer drugs

Dear All,

in a recent newsletter BCN health outlined that the Spanish Ministry is getting increasingly wary of too high prices on cancer drugs. They have stated that if the products fail to demonstrate cost-effectiveness they will not be funded by the NHS. Various drugs are stuck in the Spanish Ministries' pricing commission.
Indeed I also saw a lot of articles recently on the new pricing system to be implemented. Some lawyers talk about the need of an "entire new house" for the system of drug price setting in Spain. Clearly the involvement of more economic analysis in terms of cost effectiveness and budget impact will be part of it. I believe reference pricing will also play an import role coupled with more risk sharing that we see emerging in certain communities. The bigger pricing threads comes from those who like to introduce more centralized tender purchasing.

There are no signs of recovery of the Spanish economy hence serious pricing pressures will continue throughout 2013 and beyond.

Cheers
Ulf

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