Seminar

Increasingly across Europe, third party payers are adopting costcontainment measures to regulate the pharmaceutical market.

The precise nature and mix of regulatory approaches differs considerably between markets. Is that variation likely to remain or will there be convergence? The Office of Health Economics London (OHE,) organised a one-day conference to discuss current and future trends of medicine Pricing and Reimbursement (P&R) in Europe. Pricing and Reimbursement trends, and their rationales, were discussed by expert economists for the five major European markets:

• France: Claude Le Pen Professor of Economics, Paris-Dauphine University non-executive board member of CNAMTS, expert advisor to the French Parliamentary Office for Health Policy Evaluation
• United Kingdom: Professor Adrian Towse, Director and Martina Garau, Economist, Office of Health Economics
• Germany: Graf von der Schulenburg, Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Institute for Insurance Economics, Dean of the Institute of Health Economics and System Science in Health, University of Hanover
• Italy: Dr. Livio Garrattini, Director, Centre for Health Economics, Angelo & Angela Valenti (CESAV) at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Italy
• Spain: Joan Costa-i-Font, Research Fellow, London School of Economics, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Barcelona

Each speaker discussed:

• the current regulatory framework of their native country
• the main aims of economic regulation of the prescription medicines market there
• how and to what extent P&R policies have shaped the local pharmaceutical market (e.g. launch of new medicines, entry of follow-on products, generic penetration)
• the effectiveness of P&R policies in achieving political objectives
• the possible scenarios of P&R regulation which might emerge in the next 10 years and why.

To conclude Professor Danzon, Celia Moh Professor, Chair and Professor of the Health Care Systems Department, and Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at The Wharton School of Management, University of Pennsylvania, drew together common elements emerging across national pricing and reimbursement arrangements of major European markets.