Fall in wholesale prices of medicines in Finland reimbursed by KELA in 2012

Medicines wholesale prices in Finland continued to decline in 2012, following the trend prevailing throughout the 2000s. According to the index published by Statistics Finland, medicines’ wholesale prices were down 1.1% in 2012 whereas the general price level was up 2.8% during the same period.

The decrease was particularly marked in reimbursable medicines. In the pharmaceutical contexts, “wholesale price” refers to the share accounted for by the pharmaceutical company and wholesaler in the medicine retail price, reports the trade group Pharma Industry Finland (PIF).

The price of the reimbursable medicines is pushed downwards by reimbursement decisions in force for a determined period of time, by generic substitution as well as the price competition enhanced by the reference price system. The temporary character of the reimbursements is based on legislation: the reasonable wholesale price of a novel reimbursable medicine can be adopted by the authorities for a maximum of three years while the maximum for old medicines is five years. Normally, the wholesale price decreases at every renewal of the reimbursement status.