Reported OECD statistic does not prove that Irish pharma spend is highest in Europe

The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) refutes the claim in the Sunday Business Post on February 14 and repeated on RTE’s Morning Ireland that Irish pharmaceutical expenditure has now been shown by the OECD to the highest in Europe.

That conclusion, based on the report of a ‘preliminary’, unpublished and unverified statistic of the OECD relating to Ireland, takes no account of differences across countries in pharmaceutical expenditure, which the OECD itself notes in its official publications.

These differences have a significant impact. For example, expenditure on pharmaceuticals in hospitals is excluded. This results in Denmark, where an estimated half of medicines spend is through hospitals, having an under-stated pharmaceutical spend per capita on the OECD measure.