E-DRUG: Measuring Prices & Availability of Locally-produced & Imported Medicines
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Dear E-druggers,
A study led by Health Action International (HAI), published last week in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, found that local production of medicines does not necessarily result in lower prices for patients. This finding is based on surveys in Tanzania and Ethiopia, undertaken using a new tool we developed to measure and compare the availability and prices of locally-produced and imported medicines.
Numerous governments in low- and middle-income countries support local production, but little evidence has previously been available on the impact on medicine prices and availability. So we adapted the WHO/HAI medicine price and availability tool to differentiate between locally-produced and imported medicines, and pilot tested it in Tanzania and Ethiopia. This work was part of the second phase of a project initiated by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development in 2012 to assess the impact of local production of medical products for improved access in low- and middle-income countries.
Applying the methodology in Ethiopia and Tanzania, we found two contrasting situations. In Ethiopia, the government paid more for local products, then applied a lower mark-up compared to imports. In Tanzania, the government paid less for local products, then applied a higher mark-up compared to imports. Both scenarios resulted in patients paying higher prices for locally-produced medicines than for imported medicines in public sector outlets. In the private sector, imported medicines were higher priced than local products in Ethiopia, but similarly priced in Tanzania.
Availability of locally produced medicines also differed between Tanzania and Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, locally-produced medicines were more available than imported medicines in both the public and private sectors. In Tanzania, locally-produced medicines were less available than imports in both sectors.
Study co-investigator, Zafar Mirza, with the World Health Organization said: "Many governments support local production with a view to improving access, but this does not happen automatically. Balancing local production policies is critically important to ensure that patients don't end up paying for these policies through higher medicine prices. This would defeat the public health objective of supporting local production."
The article is available on:
http://joppp.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40545-016-0095-1
Reports of all the findings in Tanzania and Ethiopia are available on HAI's website : http://haiweb.org/what-we-do/price-availability-affordability/measuring-the-availability-and-prices-of-locally-produced-and-imported-medicines/
Those wanting to survey the price and availability of locally-produced and imported medicines can sign-up on HAI's website to receive the methodology manual, which will soon be published.
Regards
Marg Ewen
Margaret Ewen, PhD
Global Projects (Pricing)
Health Action International
Overtoom 60 (2)
1054 HK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
www.haiweb.org
Marg Ewen <Marg@haiweb.org>