Spain's pharma price strategy limited

The Spanish evaluation agency (AdE) has said that, while the government's strategic policy on pharmaceuticals is valuable, it concentrates exclusively on the control of drug spending generated through prescriptions in medical practice and ignores the drug costs of hospitals, which account for a growing proportion of total medicine costs.

Meanwhile, the agency adds that the main problem in implementing the national pharmaceutical plan is the division of responsibility between the state and the autonomous regions over the rational use of drugs. The government is recommended to revise the existing strategy and re-define objectives. The agency also says that it is vital to develop ways of evaluating the therapeutic effectiveness of prescribed drugs, arguing that this would complement the work already being done in this area via the Pharmacy Commission of the Inter-territorial Council.