News item | 27-01-2023 | 3:30 pm
The maximum prices of medicines with a relatively low turnover will be increased by 15 percent. The Council of Ministers has approved a proposal to this effect from Minister Kuipers of Health, Welfare and Sport. The increase increases the chance that medicines with a limited financial scope for the supplier will remain available to Dutch patients.
Minister Kuipers: “I think this precaution is important to take. In this way, the risks to the availability of these medicines can be reduced and medicines can therefore remain accessible to Dutch patients.”
Maximum prices can be set for medicines on the basis of the Medicines Prices Act (Wgp). This price cap is an important means of moderating the prices of, in particular, expensive medicines and controlling expenditure. But there is also a group of pharmaceuticals whose turnover, as an indication of margins, is under such pressure that it is no longer profitable for manufacturers to keep them on the Dutch market. To prevent these drugs from disappearing from the market, the maximum prices for this group of drugs will be adjusted. This specifically concerns groups of comparable medicines with an annual turnover of less than € 500,000.
Manufacturers do not have to submit an application themselves. The new price cap will be automatically processed for eligible assets.