Forthcoming OECD study examines pharmaceutical pricing policies, pricing data, and innovation
April 18, 2008
Mike Palmedo
On April 16, Elizabeth Docteur, Deputy Head of the OECD Health Division,
presented the results of her research on the effect that national pricing policies
have on prices of the same drugs in other countries, and their effect on future
pharmaceutical innovation. The full study,
coauthored by Valérie Paris, Pierre Moïse, and Lihan Wei, will be released in
June or July of this year. Her presentation as part of an AARP-sponsored panel on
the pharmaceutical industry is available at the conference website: Healthcare
'08 - Global Trends and Practices.
The OECD study notes the greater availability of pricing information. Not long
ago, it was very difficult for policymakers to obtain timely, reliable data on
what other nations’ government agencies were paying for drugs. Now, greater
access to information through informal communications between policy makers has
assisted external reference pricing. This has led to an observable relative
convergence of prices among OECD countries (excluding the US), which has
impacted the strategies of drug firms. The industry used to try to segment
markets, but now they are more inclined to launch first where they can get the
highest price, in order to set the global reference prices high. Sometimes they
are willing to accept confidential rebates from governments in lieu of lower
list prices, in order to keep the converging prices moving upward. Obviously,
this is bad for the OECD countries with relatively lower incomes.
The study also compares the effects of different pricing policies on
pharmaceutical innovation. Policies that set the price (or reimbursement level)
of a new drug at the same level as the price of its lowest therapeutically
equivalent competitor discourage investment in me too drugs. These policies
should drive pharmaceutical research towards more innovative new products.
Since drug companies game the system when reference pricing compares prices
across borders; and since pricing policies that seek to reward products with
extra clinical benefit can lead to more innovative new medicines, the OECD
study recommends the latter.
