Europe's drug pricing sent askew by economic crash

The European Union faced further fallout from the global financial crisis this year, and the region’s health care industry has seen pricing changes to reflect this, claims a new report by health care experts GlobalData.

Titled Global Healthcare Policy Analysis 2012 – Regulatory, Pricing, and Reimbursement Assessment, this states that the on-going sovereign debt crisis is directly affecting the European health care sector, as government solutions to money worries in Spain, Portugal, Italy and, especially Greece, include cost-cutting in national health care programs as an important aspect.

GlobalData’s senior analyst for health care industry dynamics, Michael Leibfried, states: “The largest issue facing the pharmaceutical industry in the European Union is renewed pricing pressure from all directions.” Greek pharmacies have been cutting drug prices so that individuals can afford their medications, but this has led to a lucrative export carry trade, and shrinking prices in other countries due to reference pricing.