Drug prescriptions double over last decade

THE number of drug prescriptions written in Ireland has doubled to a record 32 million during the past decade, it was revealed yesterday.

State expenditure on various drugs schemes has also increased fourfold in the same period and tops €1 billion each year.

According to the National Centre of Pharmaeconomics, inflation only accounts for some of the extra spending as doctors are also prescribing newer and more expensive drugs in preference to the cheaper generic brands.

But another major factor in the spiralling costs, according to pharmaeconomist Dr Michael Barry, was the introduction of a new Drugs Payment Scheme five years ago and the extension of the medical card to all over-70s.

Dr Barry told a Cork conference the 50% mark-up, which pharmacists can place on the ingredients of all medicines dispensed under the Drugs Payment Scheme, was a major factor in the escalating costs.

The costs of dispensing one drug include:

A standard prescription fee of €2.59.

Ingredients cost €54.29.

A 50% mark-up of €27.15.

Total cost - €84.03.

“There has to be a review of this inflationary measure because there is no justification for it,” Dr Barry told the Politics of Drug Regulation in Ireland’s audience.

The extension of the medical card to over-70s also added to a massive increase in drug costs and it is estimated to have cost the State €55 million so far.

Another factor is wholesale costs being linked to those in Britain.

“We would save ourselves €16m a year if we linked our wholesale costs to those of Denmark instead of Britain,” Dr Barry said.

The failure to prescribe more generic drugs that are cheaper than patented ones has also pushed up the State’s drug bill. Only 22% of drugs prescribed in Ireland in 2001 were generic compared with 54% of German drugs in the same year.

“If we had prescribed the same amount of generic drugs we would have saved the State €6.8m.”

He said the State must force drug companies to take action, like the Netherlands where the authorities will not licence a drug unless a company can prove it is cost effective.

Negotiations are underway between the Department of Health and the pharmaceutical industry to secure agreement on this.

Meanwhile, Dr Barry also revealed Irish patients had the second-highest annual drugs bill in Europe.

A recent survey showed the Irish paid €936 a year for drugs compared with the British who paid €122 and the Dutch who paid €164.