Consumption and availability of medical drugs in Slovakia from the point of view of initiative G-10 of the European Commission on the need to maintain a stimulating economic space for innovation in Europe

Bratislava, July 14, 2004 – Availability of medical drugs is one of the most important topics for patients, doctors, pharmaceutical industry, insurance companies, as well as regulatory bodies. European Commission, which within a G-10 initiative deals with some principal issues related to the performance and prosperity of pharmaceutical industry in the European area in favor of the citizens of the European community, also considers it very important. Access to new drugs is not only important for producers, but also for doctors and patients who need these drugs. The G-10 initiative aims at speeding up the access of patients to new medicines, improvement of the supply system (flows of products within the common EU market) and the availability of new drugs in the sense of possible consumption. Access to new drugs also means access to better health for all European Union inhabitants.

Thanks to reform measures in the area of drug policy carried out last and this year in Slovakia the consumption of drugs has a falling tendency. The growth of expenditures in 2003 for drugs was around half of the 2002 level (3.6 vs. 5.6%) and the consumption expressed in packs decreased by 2%.

During the period from January to May of 2004 13.7% less money was spent on drugs compared to last year despite the introduction of the higher VAT on drugs (gradually increasing from 10 to 14 and then to 19%). The consumption in packs is also falling; during the first five months of this year 16.3% less was consumed in comparison with the same period of 2003.

However, this is not only a result of the introduction of various fees for doctor visits and realization of a drug prescription in pharmacies, which caused a decrease of consumption in packs, but also a result of a systematic pressure of the Slovak Ministry of HealthCare on the drug producers in pricing. Pharmaceuticals producers (not just those who produce originals, but also the producers of generic drugs) had to adjust to the economic pressure and through decreasing prices they contributed considerably to the realization of savings declared by the ministry.

Within the common European market a free movement of goods is possible and this principle also applies to drugs. It is therefore necessary that price policy in individual EU member states is sufficiently flexible enabling the producers to apply comparable prices. Because the area of setting co-payments (the so called categorization of drugs) is closely connected to the drug pricing, the issue of prices and the following assessment of co-payments from health insurance is of key importance to securing availability of drugs for patients. It would be appropriate that sources saved by generic substitution as well as for example for the paid VAT, will be returned to the system thus enabling socially bearable additional fees also for newer or more comfortable drugs for wider groups of inhabitants and not just for those who are economically stronger as showed in a representative survey of the AOPP (Association for the protection of patients’ rights) – called the Economic accessibility of medical drugs for the inhabitants of the Slovak Republic. Of the 1,093 persons polled in the survey 43.5% re spondents consider the current additional fees for drugs to be a problematic item and another 15.6% considers it unbearable.

In addition to that it also need to be considered that the consumption of drugs in Slovakia is not especially high. The average consumption of drugs in Slovakia per one inhabitant in 2003 reached USD 91, while the average in the V4 states was USD 104, EU average was USD 269, and average consumption per person in the US was as much as USD 726 USD (IMS data related to all consumed drugs in production prices).

The information suggests that the possibilities of further savings in the area of drugs are on the verge of possibilities of pharmaceuticals producers to cut prices, as well as of citizens to pay for the drugs and that further dramatic decreasing of prices and payments could lead to unavailability not just of those drugs that already are present on the Slovak market but also of the latest drugs that are encouraging progress and that move the possibilities of the medical science forward.

(Abbreviated)