Belgium's drug price cuts to save 70M euros

Hundreds of drug prices will fall in Belgium, effective from May 1, generating about 70.0 million euros ($93.2 million) in savings for the  sickness insurance program, the INAMI, and improving access to medicines  for patients, according to pharma.be, the research-based pharmaceutical  association. The reimbursement decision was announced in the  official register, the Moniteur Belge, in the form of a ministerial  decree from the Ministry of Public Health and Social Affairs.

Most of the products involved are post-patent, the group explained.  Pharma.be notes that, even before the latest round of price reductions,  the cost of branded drugs in Belgium was lower than in the Netherlands,  Germany, France and the UK, by a factor ranging from 1.4% to 47.9%. The  pharmaceutical sectoral association hopes to negotiate a long-term  framework, for example three years, for drug pricing in Belgium. This  would provide a measure of stability, as has been achieved in the UK  with the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, which operates  according to five-year schedules (Marketletters passim).