Reilly pledges to address high drug costs

HEALTH Minister James Reilly has declared a crackdown on drug costs after discovering that medicines can be bought up to 20 times cheaper across the border.

“There are huge savings to be made,” the Minister said as he outlined measures aimed at bringing the-ever increasing national drugs bill under control.

Dr Reilly told a Dáil committee the cost of providing medicines to people on medical cards and other schemes had increased five-fold between 1998 and 2010, rocketing from €400 million to €2 billion.