US President Donald TrumpHe left on Monday against the EU, announcing plans to reduce drug costs for Americans. “We will pay Europe”Trump told reporters that EU countries were “hard”, “brutal” and “unpleasant” in the treatment of pharmaceutical companies.
The prices of pharmaceuticals in the United States are the highest The world. In 2022, he spent $ 617.2 billion (542.7 billion euros), together with $ 233,500 million (205.3 billion euros) from 24 European countries, compared to 24 European countries, According to Rand Corporation Analysis.
Trump’s plan connects drug prices If drug manufacturers do not cut their own at first, Americans are at the lowest proportion of other rich countries. But it is not yet clear how to use it What savings he will consider in American patients. What is the European approach to the prices of drugs, what is the hardest, brutal and unpleasant?
The price of the United States Because pharmaceutical companies say that they have to recover The growth costs of new drugs, but European countries are negotiating to reduce their prices, The US government is not generally.
Most European countries They take into account the cost of the same medicine When they decide how much they are willing to pay in other countries, According to a statement WHO of the World Health Organization (WHO). Nevertheless, the Europeans pay different prices for drugs according to their whereabouts. For example, Switzerland spends an average of 525 euros per year For a person, Croatia spends 262 euros.
This is somewhat reason Negotiations with pharmaceutical companies are confidentialThis, according to critics, will increase the price of already expensive drugs. “Basically there is no transparency,” Health Hussein Nasi, co -professor of the London School of Economics, told the Health Hussein of Euroinus.
Countries have different priorities when negotiating prices. In the UK and Sweden, a major activity of cost-efficiency relationship Germany takes into account a new drug This will benefit patients compared to existing options.
Specifically, The drug prices have increased In European countries in recent years. In Germany, for example, the cost of drugs They increased 11.5% in hospitals between 2012 and 2022 and 2.6% of retail pharmacies.
Hygiene They warned last year Increasing the prices of drugs is already testing national budgets. “Prices are already too high based on what health organizations can pay in many European countries,” Nasi said, “If there are US policies Or pharmaceutical companies are able to put pressure on them To raise the prices even more, “it will be very troublesome.”
There are differences within Europe Since most of the costs are responsible for public health systems, who really pays medicines, but some costs are paid by pocket or additional medical insurance.
In the Baltic countriesFor example, Patients can pay different prices According to the WHO report, for the same drug depending on the disease they experience. Others, such as Estonia, Poland and France, have drug rates or other standard kopakos.
In Cyprus, the government and other compulsory schemes include 90% of all pharmaceutical expenses by 2022, compared to 23% in Bulgaria. Those figures include all drugsNot just the drug. “Ask health systems to pay more prices for pharmaceutical products and I don’t think there is more space to accommodate,” Nasi said.
