IMPACT OF SWEDISH REFERENCE PRICING PLAN

Sweden's association of foreign drugmakers, RUFI, has carried out a study of the impact of the Swedish reference drug price system, which was introduced there on January 1, 1993.

The reference price on 41 substances (for which the original product's patent has lapsed, at least one generic product exists on the market, and at least 20% of sales must be related to open care) is set at 10% above the cheapest generic version and reimbursement of the cost of the drug under the national health system is based on this reference price.

RUFI's study notes that between 1992 and 1993: - the turnover by value for human medicines increased by 12.6%; - the turnover by value for substances with reference prices decreased by 18.6%; - and the turnover by value of substances not included in the reference pricing system rose by 18.3%, that is from 1.36 billion Swedish kroner to 1.10 kroner ($143.7 million).