Reilly Forces Down Drug Prices

Health Minister James Reilly has announced an agreement with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) on interim drug price reductions. The price of certain off patent medicines are to be reduced which will deliver full year savings to the HSE of €20m. 

Under the recently expired Agreement between the HSE and IPHA, when a generic equivalent of an off patent medicine comes on the market, the price of the original product is reduced by 20% immediately and by a further 15% after 22 months. The IPHA will honour the above provisions in respect of any new generic equivalents of original products coming on the market since the Agreement expired on 1st March last.

IPHA have now proposed that when a generic equivalent of an off patent medicine comes on the market, the price of the original product will be reduced immediately by 30% (instead of 20%). In the case of products that have already been reduced by 20% under the existing Agreement but have not yet had the 15% price reduction, IPHA will provide an immediate reduction of 10% rather than having to wait for the expiry of the 22 month period provided for in the existing Agreement.

The estimated saving from these measures of approx €10m in 2012 and up to €20m in a full year. As part of the agreement, the HSE will give its approval to the reimbursement of drugs which in the normal course of events would have been approved for reimbursement under the schemes.


The savings will allow the Health Service Executive to approve the release of new, more expensive drugs.

Drugs to be released will include Brilique, to prevent thrombosis in patients with acute coronary syndromes; Gilenya, for multiple sclerosis; Sycrest, for bipolar disorder; and Incivo and Victrelis, both for hepatitis C.