State can slash millions off €1bn subsidised drugs bill

THE State could slash almost €10 million a year off the cost of subsidised prescription drugs by making simple changes in how it prices the medicines, research has revealed.

The Department of Health is currently tied to an agreement with the pharmaceutical manufacturers whereby the price of drugs used under the medical card scheme, the drugs payment scheme and the long-term illness scheme, is based on the average price of drugs in five EU countries.

However, research carried out by the Centre for Pharmacoeconomics at St James' Hospital in Dublin found that these countries Denmark, France, Germany, Holland and Britain with the exception of France, pay some of the highest prices in Europe for drugs, which is helping push the country's drugs bill towards a record high of e1 billion this year.