Irish medicines bill to be cut 300M euros

As a result of an agreement reached recently between the Health Services Executive of Ireland and the country's pharmacists, the state medicines bill is expected to be reduced 300.0 million euros ($382.1 million). Tnaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Health Mary Harney said this is an important step in affording the best medicines for Irish patients.

Under the terms of the deal, which will run until 2010, a wider basket of European Union countries will be used for the pricing of new drugs and medicines coming off patent and cutting costs for hospitals. At present, Ireland spends an estimated 1.8 billion euros a year on medicines, and this figure is increasing at an annual rate of over 14%. The HSE estimates that the new agreement will reduce annual drug price increases to around 6%.

More savings sought