Drug pricing mechanism

Drug pricing is a critical issue that affects access to healthcare worldwide. European countries, including the UK, Canada, and Australia, exemplify strong government controls over drug pricing. In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) play pivotal roles to this endevour. Pharmaceutical companies propose prices to NICE, which rigorously reviews the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new drugs before making recommendations to the NHS. Subsequently, the NHS negotiates prices, ensuring fairness, necessity, and affordability.
This system allows the NHS to procure many off-patent medicines at lower costs than in the USA. Similarly, other European nations implement robust regulatory mechanisms, preventing companies from arbitrarily increasing drug prices. In contrast, drug pricing in South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, presents significant challenges.
India's National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) regulates over 384 essential medicines, preventing companies from overpricing them. While non-essential medicines remain subject to market forces, the extensive list of essential medicines and the availability of health insurance mitigate the impact of rising drug prices on Indian patients. By comparison, Bangladesh's essential medicines list contains only 285 items, leaving many crucial drugs unregulated.

Ashikujaman Syed
Business Development Manager
Fuyi (Xiamen) Material Technology Co. Ltd
Xiamen, China
[email protected]