Health commissioner touts EU pricing overhaul

The EU health commissioner, Markos Kyprianou, has said that the pharmaceutical industry needs to reorganise its pricing policy on key drugs to help poorer EU member states address global health challenges.

In an interview with the Financial Times Mr Kyprianou said that pricing of drugs between countries in Europe is a problem and said that one idea suggested was “a system where everybody pays the same price but the industry refunds part of the payment according to the financial ability and situation of each member state, so that they would all pay the same but some of them would get back more”.

Mr Kyprianou conceded that any scheme would need to adhere to EU trading rules and not increase parallel trading.

Though the industry has called foe liberalisition of pricing in Europe drug prices are currently set by individual national health bodies.

Andrew Whitty, president of GlaxoSmithKline Europe, told the same paper that the company welcomed a discussion on how to improve the European pricing environment.

However, he added: “It is a complex issue, requiring input from all member states.

“Any new approach to pricing must have value as its cornerstone and must be designed to encourage innovation into diseases of concern to European citizens.”

Pharecuticals pricing is set to be part of a wider industrial policy review to be undertaken by the EU’s industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen.

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