Spanish doctors told to prescribe cheaper generic drugs
23 August 2011 @ 22:36
Zapatero government expects £2bn yearly saving in law change limiting use of costly branded medicines.
In a move designed to save €2.4bn (£2.1bn) a year, Spain's socialist government has passed a law forcing doctors and pharmacies to prescribe generic drugs rather than the more expensive brand names sold by pharmaceutical companies.
Spanish doctors will now have to complete prescriptions giving only the details of the active ingredients of the medicine that their patients must take, as well as the dose and format. The drugs are paid for partly by the state and partly by patients.
Pharmacies will be obliged to provide the cheapest available versions of drugs, which will frequently mean not the better-known brand names sold by the big drugs firms.
The government believes the overall saving to the state and to the regional governments who administer health, combined with other drug-price reduction measures adopted on Tuesday, will be about €2.4bn (£2.09bn) a year.
Read the rest of the article at the Guardian
Permalink
Please leave a comment about this post. You don't have to be registered to leave a comment.