Public Citizen | Congress Watch | Congress Watch - Methods Used by European Countries To Obtain Reasonable Drug Prices for Consumers

Country	Methods of Obtaining Reasonable Drug Prices
Belgium	Individual price controls, reference price system*, generic pricing policy, measures for generic prescribing
Denmark	Reference price system, generic pricing policy, measures for generic substitution by pharmacists
France	Individual price controls, generic pricing policy
Germany	Reference price system, generic pricing policy, measures for generic prescribing, measures for generic substitution by pharmacists
Greece	Individual price controls, generic pricing policy
Ireland	Individual price controls, measures for generic prescribing
Italy	Individual price controls, reference price system
Luxembourg	Individual price controls
Portugal	Individual price controls, generic pricing policy
Spain	Individual price controls, reference price system, measures for generic substitution by pharmacists
Netherlands	Reference price system, generic pricing policy, measures for generic substitution by pharmacists
United Kingdom	Profit control system, generic pricing policy, measures for generic prescribing

* Reference price system: products are first clustered into homogenous drug classes, then a reimbursement price set for the whole cluster becomes a reference price for the class.

Source: Christine Huttin, "Drug Price Divergence in Europe: Regulatory Aspects," Health Affairs, May/June 1999, Exhibit 1, page 246.

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