new Year Drug Price Rises In italy

In Italy, 4,600 drugs classified as A and B (free or 50% free to patients under the health service) received new Year price rises, as the price decreases imposed by the 1995 budget bill elapsed.

The pharmacists' association, federfarma, says prices of about 1,200 products will rise 5%, while for the remaining 3,400 the increase will be 2.5%. The drug manufacturers' association, Farmindustria, says the price adjustment is not really a rise, but simply a return to the situation before the mandatory price cuts of December 1994, and that even reverting to the situation at end-1994 means an actual price decline of 17% for drugs against a rise in inflation of 18% over the last four years. Drug prices in italy remain around 30% below the European average, says Farmindustria.

Meantime, the 1995 ceiling for state spending on drugs has been revised up to 9,700 billion lire ($6.15 billion), from an initial forecast of 9,000 billion lire.