Vol. 529 No. 4
183 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children if reports in a newspaper (details supplied) that Irish consumers pay up to six times more for prescription drugs than their counterparts in Britain and Europe are correct; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3160/01]
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, formerly the Federation of Irish Chemical Industries, 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.
Considerable discrepancies can exist between the prices of individual products between Ireland and the UK, particularly if the comparison is made on the basis of generic equivalents. There is 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.
Under the GMS scheme, pharmacists are reimbursed the trade price, that is, 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.
