Australia has lowest prices for new medicines, says UK government; needs to boost productivity, says OECD

Australia's pharmaceutical industry is citing research released late last year by the UK Department of Health which found that Australia has among the lowest prices for new medicines in the developed world (The Pharma Letter December 16, 2009) comparing the prices of the leading 150 branded prescription medicines in 11 European countries, the USA and Australia. Of the comparator countries, only Australia - which was added to the UK comparator list only in 2007 - was significantly lower than the UK, the report found.

Trade group Medicines Australia's chief executive, Brendan Shaw, said the British government's report provided further evidence that Australian taxpayers were getting value for money from new prescription medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

'This report proves that the prices Australia pays for new medicines are among the lowest in the developed world,' Dr Shaw said. 'This research supports various other Australian and international studies which also show that by international standards the price of new medicines in Australia is low.'