Call for intervention in drug price row

THE National Implementation Body has received a formal request from the Irish Pharmaceutical Union to intervene in its increasingly acrimonious row with the Health Service Executive over payments.

Last night, a spokesperson for the Department of the Taoiseach confirmed there had been an official request for intervention but no reply had issued yet.

The row, which centres on HSE plans to slash almost 10% off the mark-up price it pays to wholesalers for drugs by 2009, yesterday led to the withdrawal of methadone services for heroin addicts.