Proper benchmark needed for drug prices

Anne Nolan of IPHA claims (Letters, Nov 5) our branded drugs are at, or below, the European average.

Ireland is broke, Spain is broke, so the cost of drugs in Spain should be the benchmark for us.

As a market we are an extension of the UK for all world manufacturers, so we could also benchmark against them. Maybe Anne could furnish a price list for Spain and UK for her IPHA-branded drugs and the Irish cost. The APMI could do the same for generics.

There are 2m medical cards here and the cost of their drugs (€800 pa per card average) has to be paid by those who don’t have them. Perhaps each party in the Dáil could issue a public statement explaining their silence on this State-sanctioned cartel arrangement.

T Murphy

Ballincollig

Co Cork