How do drug prices compare across Europe? A new analysis published by Sweden’s Tandvårds-och läkemedelsförmånsverket (TLV; Dental and Medical Benefits Agency) compared the list prices of widely prescribed patent-protected outpatient drugs in 20 leading European markets.

The study found that Switzerland had the highest prices in Europe—123% of the European average. Ireland ranked second (119%), followed by Denmark and Germany (114%), Italy (110%) and the United Kingdom (110%). At the other end of the pricing spectrum, Poland had the lowest prices (82% of the European average), followed by Slovakia (87%), Sweden (89%), Finland (90%) and France and Greece (91%).

Drugs without competition mainly comprise patent-protected products but also include some medicines that have lost market exclusivity but cannot be substituted. The analysis included only drugs that were available in the outpatient setting in both Sweden and each comparator country. In comparing list prices, it is important to bear in mind that discounts and rebates that are not (fully) in the public domain may lead to significantly lower net prices in some countries, such as Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The World Health Organisation has just started a consultation process to develop a multi-stakeholder platform for improving access to novel, high-cost medicines in Europe. In September 2022, 53 countries signed a statement “committing to identify solutions to improve access to effective, novel and high-priced medicines in the region.” Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems, WHO/Europe, said: “At our Regional Committee session in September last year, 19 countries took the floor to outline the health systems challenges they faced in providing access to medicines—not only for novel high-cost products but also for essential medicines. The Access to Novel Medicines Platform—the first of its kind—will be a safe space in which Member States can discuss these issues and identify solutions.”

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