for these developments included the global economic downturn (Canada), market consolidation processes (Canada, Spain) and the strategic decision taken by national representatives of generic companies to close their sales or market access departments (Norway, Switzerland). When they announced cost-containment measures, governments were frequently confronted with opposition of pharmaceutical industry (e.g. media campaigns, legal challenges) who expressed their concern of negative consequences for the performance of the pharmaceutical sector. In two countries (Hungary, Spain) industry proposed alternative solutions to prevent the implementation of planned cost-containment measures. ConClusions: While cost-containment measures contributed to impact negatively the performance of pharmaceutical industry in some cases, their consequences appeared to be less severe than previously expected. This suggests that cost-containment is less relevant than other performance-impacting factors. PHP331Are Drug Procurement ProceDure AnD AwArD criteriA in eu HosPitAl setting stAnDArDizeD AnD Do tHey tAke into Accounts effective suPPly QuAlity?

Potential drivers and barriers of biosimilar uptake were mainly analysed through qualitative approaches. The study objective was to conduct a quantitative analysis and identify drivers of biosimilar uptake of all available biosimilars in the European Union (EU). MethOds: A three-step process was established to identify key drivers for the uptake of biosimilars in top ten EU Member States (MS) pharmaceutical markets (Belgium,