Exchange of Information on Prices of Medicines
Nataliia Modlenko, Associate with Legal Alliance Company
State Enterprise “State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” is a member of the international organization “Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Information” (hereinafter referred to as “PPRI”).
PPRI was founded in 2005 and brought together a number of national competent authorities in different countries of the world responsible for pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement. PPRI’s purpose is to promote the exchange of information and experience in the pharmaceutical field among the countries-members of PPRI.
Nowadays, PPRI consists of nearly 70 institutions from 40 countries-members of the EU, Canada, South Korea, etc.
The fact that the PPRI member countries can exchange information on prices of medicines is important for the implementation of the state pricing policy in Ukraine. This information is available on a shared database to which State Enterprise “State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” has access.
In our country, state pricing is implemented, inter alia, by declaring wholesale prices of medicines, as well as by implementing the pilot project on reimbursement of the cost of antihypertensive drugs.
At the moment, the declaration of wholesale prices is being carried out on the application principle, although the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as “the Draft Resolution”) is being publicly discussed now, under which Draft Resolution applicants shall have to submit a fact sheet on the level of wholesale prices in Ukraine and prices in the reference countries. A list of said countries is not specified in the Draft Resolution; it is envisaged that the Ministry of Health of Ukraine will develop the Procedure for calculation of a median price based on the above data.
External referential procedure for the Pilot project is carried out in the following countries: Bulgaria, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. If the respective medicine is not presented on the markets in these countries, the comparative (reference) price will be fixed taking into account the prices in Latvia, Hungary and Serbia.
Thus, it can be stated that membership in PPRI enables state agencies to obtain information on the level of prices for certain medicines in foreign countries.
