O’Reilly claims expensive drugs deal

FINE Gael health spokesman James Reilly has stated he believes some patients are placed on expensive medicines due to deals between hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.

The accusation came at the conclusion of an Oireachtas Health committee meeting where medical sector representatives discussed the greater use of cheaper generic rather than branded medicines.

Dr Reilly said that it was his belief that in certain situations patients leaving hospital were placed on more expensive treatment options that GPs were then reluctant to substitute because the “hospital has done some sort of deal with a pharmaceutical company”.

The meeting heard that the Department of Health estimates that over 10% savings could be made on HSE medicines expenditure when greater use of generic products is made possible with the introduction of legalisation early next year.

Department of Health Primary Care principal officer, Teresa Cody, said that last year the HSE spent €168m on out of patent products and €17m could have been saved by using generic treatments.

The Irish Medical Board said they were satisfied that the authorisation process for “generic medicines is grounded in EU legislation” and that “authorised generic medicines on the Irish market have fulfilled EU criteria and are considered to have the same benefits and risks” as the branded, referred to as reference, medicines they are substituted for.

However, Dr John Carey of the Irish Osteoporosis Society argued that due to their differing qualitative effects osteoporosis medications should not be submitted for generic drugs.