Irish government plans to introduce reference pricing for medicines next year could lead to drug shortages, if prices are set so low that manufacturers decide not to supply the market, pharmacy leaders have warned. In some countries, reference pricing has led to patients being unable to obtain their medicines, according to speakers at the Irish Pharmacy Union’s (IPU) annual general meeting, held last weekend. For instance, in the UK, products including Novartis’ breast cancer drug Femara (letrozole) and Lundbeck’s selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) Cipralex (escitalopram) have been unavailable to patients in recent months, said Noel Stenson, a member of the IPU’s pharmacy contractors’ committee. The problem has reached “such critical proportions” that the UK Department of Health called a “major summit meeting of all stakeholders to try to resolve the supply crisis for certain fundamental drugs,” said Mr Stenson, adding: “this is not a situation we want in Ireland.”
via pharmatimes.com
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