Sustaining Generic Medicines Markets in Europe

Abstract

is a professor at the Research Centre for Pharmaceutical Care and Pharmaco-economics. He is a health economist and leads the Centre's research into the economics of medicines, medical devices and related products. His research interests focus on issues surrounding competition and regulation of the pharmaceutical industry, and economic evaluation of medicines and medical devices. Sandra De Costergraduated from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven as a pharmacist. She spent two years in the pharmaceutical industry, where she participated in the regulatory affairs of herbal medicines. She then joined the Research Centre for Pharmaceutical Care and Pharmaco-economics as a research fellow. Her research interests focus on pharmacotherapy. In addition to this, she works part-time as a community pharmacist.Abstract The size of generic medicines retail markets varies widely among European countries, owing to differences in the policy environment surrounding generic medicines. This study aims to provide a comparative analysis of policy tools that European countries have used to develop their generic medicines market and to formulate recommendations for sustaining generic medicines markets. The European experience indicates that there is no single approach towards developing a generic medicines market. Penetration of generic medicines is more successful in countries that permit (relatively) free medicine pricing. Reference-pricing systems do not aid generic medicine use if the price of originator medicines falls to the reference price level. Physician budgets stimulate generic medicine use if accompanied by rewards/sanctions for budget surpluses/deficits, respectively. Generic substitution aids generic medicine use if it is financially attractive to pharmacists to substitute generic for originator medicines. Patient co-payment seems to affect demand for generic medicines. This study shows that coordinated government policies are critically needed in many European countries. To sustain the development of a generic medicines market, countries need to supplement supply-side policies, such as pricing reductions, by demandside policies that create incentives for physicians, pharmacists and patients to use generic medicines.

Developing Competitive and Sustainable Polish Generic Medicines Market

“…To the extent that the generic medicines market share by volume can be further increased, this may be achieved by assisting physicians in generic prescribing by means of instruments such as electronic prescribing systems, medicine databases, audit of and feedback on prescribing data, guidelines offering advice on which medicines to prescribe, formularies providing a limitative list of medicines that can be prescribed, or substitution lists that report originator medicines that can be replaced by generic medicines (5). Furthermore, the financial disincentive for pharmacists to dispense generic medicines can be removed by increasing the regressive effect of the pharmacist remuneration scale.…”

“…Finally, Poland may wish to raise patient awareness of generic medicines by launching information campaigns, and to stimulate patient demand for generic medicines by reducing co-payment on generic medicines. The latter policy has been introduced in Portugal, where a 10% decrease in the copayment on generic medicines between 2000 and 2005 and the exemption of low-income pensioners from copayment since June 2009 appears to have stimulated the generic medicines market (5,20).…”

How Can Pricing and Reimbursement Policies Improve Affordable Access to Medicines? Lessons Learned from European Countries

“…There is a large body of literature, including on European countries, that confirmed the savings' potential through lower prices by implementing generics policies [101,[107][108][109].…”

Efficacy of international approaches to medicine price regulation and control: A scoping review

“…Through this process millions of people got access to medicines while manufacturers were able to increase their sales (Simoens and De Coster, 2006).…”