Spain’s Market Access update – Aug’16

POLICY

  • 70% of the Region’s debt is in Healthcare: total commercial debt to the regions their suppliers rose in May to 9.431 million euros, of which 6.609 million, ie 70%, corresponds to the health sector. Read the Official Ministry Report.
  • Andalucía uses the Electronic prescription to avoid User Charges. As much as 312,000 people a month have avoided having to pay UC when withdrawing a drug. Read more.
  • Valencia is proposing to introduce Therapeutic Equivalents, which beyond the formal definition, include drugs for the same disease with a similar mode of action. Physicians and academic societies are against them. Read more.

INDUSTRY

  • Bidafarma is the new wholesaler giant in Andalucía. Read more.
  • Almirall deepens into dermatologic care. It has in-licenced a patent pro Psoriasis. Read the post.

DRUGS:

  • Valencia is proposing a network to evaluate and select drugs to be applied across the region. Read more
  • Supreme Court obliges Andalusia to return the compulsory discounts made when naming drugs as Hospital Only. Andalusia has been designating some drugs as HO, entailing them to a compulsory discount. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Region cannot decide which drugs are HO on their own and therefore obliges them to return those discounts to companies.
  • Drug expenditure rose in June16 5’18% more than the previous period last year.
  • New reference groups created
    • 26 new RG have been created, 6 less than the expected
    • There is a RG for vaccines for Varicella, that have been very controversial in the last 2 years.
    • 126 M€ is the estimated impact of these groups.

DEVICES:

  • Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) puts in place an advisory group for the evaluation of devices