Written Answers. - Drug Services.
Bernard Allen
Question:
588
Mr. Allen
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if he will have investigations made into a situation where pharmacies in Dublin dispensing Zantecat charge £49.54 and £47.26, although the same drug can be obtained for half that price in other cities and towns.
[1358/01]
Bernard Allen
Question:
589
Mr. Allen
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if he will have investigations made into the reason medicine prices here are among the highest in Europe.
[1359/01]
Bernard Allen
Question:
591
Mr. Allen
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if he will have investigations made into a situation where consumers pay up to six times more for some prescription drugs than their counterparts in Britain and Europe.
[1361/01]
Bernard Allen
Question:
593
Mr. Allen
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if he has had investigations made into the situation where the price of a drug (details supplied) used to treat stomach ulcers, quoted in Dublin, is six times more than the cheapest price in Belfast.
[1363/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 588, 589, 591 and 593 together.
The price of drugs and medicines (ex manufacture) in Ireland has been subject to control since 1972 through the mechanism of formal multi-annual agreements with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association – IPHA (formerly the Federation of Irish Chemical Industries – FICI) which provides that the maximum price to the wholesaler of any new item of medicine introduced to the market and covered by the agreement shall not, on the date of notification, exceed the currency adjusted UK wholesale price or the average of a basket of EU countries, whichever is the lower. Accordingly, Irish prices for the ingredient cost of prescription medicines are generally in line with prices in the UK. A price freeze is also in place in regard to the prices charged for existing products.
Some considerable discrepancies can exist between the prices of individual products both within Ireland and between Ireland and the UK, particularly if the comparison is made on the basis of generic equivalents. There is also a vibrant generic market in the UK where the overall market is much larger and where there is significant competition that affects prices charged for generic medicines. Ranitidine, a generic version of Zantac, which I assume is the drug referred to by the Deputy, is marketed under a number of different names in Ireland, most of which are reimbursable under both the general medical services and drug payment schemes. The price difference between the top of the range and the bottom is significant. I am not aware of price differences, where Ranitidine is concerned, between this country and the United Kingdom of the nature suggested, which is a factor of six.
Under the GMS scheme, pharmacists are reimbursed the trade price, i.e. the ingredient cost of the drug dispensed by them, plus an appropriate dispensing fee. In the case of private prescriptions of medicines reimbursed under the drug payment scheme, the cost reimbursed by the State to pharmacists covers the ingredient cost of the medicine, the retail mark-up on the ingredient cost (normally 50% of the trade price) and a standard dispensing fee. My Department has no function in relation to the retail mark-up on private dispensing, which has been established by custom and practice over the years.
