Pharmaceutical regulation in 15 European countries review.

Pharmaceutical regulation in 15 European countries review. Health Syst Transit. 2016 Oct;18(5):1-122 Authors: Panteli D, Arickx F, Cleemput I, Dedet G, Eckhardt H, Fogarty E, Gerkens S, Henschke C, Hislop J, Jommi C, Kaitelidou D, Kawalec P, Keskimaki I, Kroneman M, Lopez Bastida J, Pita Barros P, Ramsberg J, Schneider P, Spillane S, Vogler S, Vuorenkoski L, Wallach Kildemoes H, Wouters O, Busse R Abstract In the context of pharmaceutical care, policy-makers repeatedly face the challenge of balancing patient access to effective medicines with affordability and rising costs. With the aim of guiding the health policy discourse towards questions that are important to actual and potential patients, this study investigates a broad range of regulatory measures, spanning marketing authorization to generic substitution and resulting price levels in a sample of 16 European health systems (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Sweden). All countries employ a mix of regulatory mechanisms to contain pharmaceutical expenditure and ensure quality and efficiency in pharmaceutical care, albeit with varying configurations and rigour. This variation also influences the extent of publicly financed pharmaceutical costs. Overall, observed differences in pharmaceutical expenditure should be interpreted in conjunction with the differing volume and composi...
Source: Health systems in transition - Category: Health Management Tags: Health Syst Transit Source Type: news