HSE pays out €484m to drug firms under scheme

One drug firm received fees over €225m from the HSE through the executive’s High Tech Drugs and Medicines scheme in 2014, new figures show.

The figures contained in the HSE’s Primary Care Reimbursement Service Statistical Analysis for 2014 show that the largest recipient was Uniphar Group (Dublin) and subsidiary Allphar Services which received combined payments totalling €225m.

The hi-tech drug sales by Uniphar to the HSE in 2014 contributed to the drug wholesaler increasing its revenues from €850.5m in 2013 to €1.1bn in 2014.

The figures also show that three subsidiaries of United Drug: United Drug Wholesale (Dublin), United Drug Wholesale (Limerick), and United Drug Wholesale (Ballina) received combined payments of €108m, while Pfizer Healthcare Ireland received fees amounting to €78m.

The amount paid out by the HSE through the High Tech Drugs and Medicines scheme in 2014 increased by €42m, from €442.27m to €484m.

Other firms to feature in the top 10 include Movianto, which received €12.23m, and Astellas Pharma, which received €9.2m.

In spite of the increased spend on hi-tech drugs, the directors of another multinational pharmaceutical firm based in Ireland, Roche, have stated that a particular feature of the pharmaceutical market here in recent years has been the downward pressure on pricing.

The directors of Roche Products (Ireland) Ltd said that the downward pressure on prices was particularly felt following the industry’s agreement with the Department of Health in 2012.

“Consequently, market growth dropped to about 3% in 2014,” the company said.

It said it believes “the market will face further pressure on prices in the coming years”. The directors made their comments in the latest accounts for Roche Products (Ireland) Ltd which show the firm had pre-tax profits of €5m after revenues rose 6.5% to €92.2m in 2014.

The firm declared a dividend of €5m during the year. Numbers employed by the firm increased by two to 79 in 2014. Staff costs increased from €8.58m to €10.6m in 2014 and the 2014 staff costs included severance costs of €835,000 in 2014.