The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) last week tabled a new price offer to the State for pharmaceuticals ahead of the understood expiration of a number of notice periods for pharmaceutical companies on June 17.
By Gary Culliton.
By Aoife Connors.
Gary Culliton reports on the new deal between the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Ireland and the Department of Health on the price of generics The prices of commonly prescribed off-patent drugs will be cut by 40 per cent on October 1 following a deal between the Department of Health and the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in Ireland (APMI).
Some generic drugs are now 50 per cent more expensive than their branded equivalents — a situation ‘unique in Europe’, the Clinical Director of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics has told Irish Medical Times.
The IMO has presented Health Minister Mary Harney with a four-point plan it said would reduce the State’s annual medicines bill by €300 million.
The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) has drawn doctors’ attention to an important safety warning relating to rituximab (MabThera) and Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML) in patients treated for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
More than €150 million in joint EU/pharmaceutical industry funding promises to accelerate the discovery and development of new medicines in the field of cancer, inflammatory and infectious disease.
Ireland has one of the lowest per capita spends on medicine in Europe and the benefits of medicines substantially outweigh the cost, according to the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA).
The current treatment method for Crohn’s disease (CD) might show better patient outcomes if it were to be reversed, according to a world expert on the condition.
Irish Medical Times Medical News for Healthcare Professionals