A European Fair Pricing Network study reveals that lower-income countries are paying more for their medicines.
A study, entitled “Price transparency of cancer medicines: a crucial step towards informed pricing negotiations in the European region”, involving 23 hospitals from nine European countries, reveals significant price variations for 15 cancer medicines both between and within countries. In some instances, hospitals are paying much more for the exact same medicine.
The European Cancer League, one of the network’s members, wrote: “Many hospitals across Europe are unknowingly paying far more than others. For example, hospitals in Hungary pay almost three times more than those in Germany for medication used to treat breast, colorectal, and gastric cancers.”
Guy Muller, who works with the Dutch Cancer Society, says the study challenges the widespread assumption that cancer drugs are always priced higher in countries with stronger economies: “In fact, countries with lower spending power often face higher hospital prices for cancer medicines. In…
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