A Pharmaceutical Transition In Spain

A change in mentality is being called for in Spain in relation to howdrug companies, pharmacists, doctors, consumers and hospitals address the use of pharmaceuticals, reports the Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias. The reason behind this is the need to control pharmaceutical spending, which in 1996 amounted to 888.14 billion pesetas ($6.2 billion), an increase of 10.92% on the previous year. The growth rate is slowing and it is expected that in 1997, the rise in spending will not exceed 10%.

Spain has reached the point where it is introducing generics legislation and reference pricing (Marketletters passim) in order to keep down costs in the health care sector. Ana Maria Naveira, Spain's director general of pharmacy at the Ministry of Health and Consumption, told Cinco Dias in an interview that she wants to ensure that there is some balance between the interests of the research-based companies and the generics manufacturers, while cutting costs.

New Generics Law; Reference Pricing Coming A new law passed last month (Marketletters passim) brought about the introduction to the Spanish market of bioequivalent generics with the aim of saving the Ministry of Health 30 billion pesetas in health care costs over the next three years, according to Ms Naveira. She said that this will be an interactive process and, more importantly, that spending will undergo a structural change within pharmaceutical policy.