Implications of external price referencing of pharmaceuticals in Middle East countries

External price referencing (EPR) is applied frequently to control pharmaceutical prices. Our objective was to analyse how EPR is used in Middle Eastern (ME) countries and to compare the price corridor for original pharmaceuticals to non-pharmaceutical services not subjected to EPR. We conducted a su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Expert review of pharmacoeconomics & outcomes research Vol. 15; no. 6; p. 993
Main Authors:	Kaló, Zoltán, Alabbadi, Ibrahim, Al Ahdab, Ola Ghaleb, Alowayesh, Maryam, Elmahdawy, Mahmoud, Al-Saggabi, Abdulaziz H, Tanzi, Vito Luigi, Al-Badriyeh, Daoud, Alsultan, Hamad S, Ali, Faleh Mohamed Hussain, Elsisi, Gihan H, Akhras, Kasem S, Vokó, Zoltán, Kanavos, Panos
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England 02-11-2015
Subjects:	Ambulatory Care - economics Commerce - economics Cost Control Drug Costs - statistics & numerical data Economics, Hospital - statistics & numerical data Humans Income Linear Models Middle East Multivariate Analysis Pharmaceutical Preparations - economics Middle East cross-national price comparison external reference pricing international society of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research price corridor for pharmaceuticals Middle East countries pharmaceutical pricing
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Summary:	External price referencing (EPR) is applied frequently to control pharmaceutical prices. Our objective was to analyse how EPR is used in Middle Eastern (ME) countries and to compare the price corridor for original pharmaceuticals to non-pharmaceutical services not subjected to EPR. We conducted a survey on EPR regulations and collected prices of 16 patented pharmaceuticals and 14 non-pharmaceutical services in seven Middle Eastern (ME) countries. Maximum and minimum prices of each pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical technology were compared to mean prices in the countries studied by using market exchange rates. Influencing factors of pharmaceutical prices were assessed by multivariate linear regression analysis. The average price corridor is narrower for pharmaceuticals (-39.8%; +35.9%) than for outpatient and hospital services (-81.7%; +96.3%). Our analysis revealed the importance of population size and EPR implementation on drug price levels; however, EPR results in higher pharmaceutical prices in lower-income countries compared to non-pharmaceutical services.
ISSN:	1744-8379
DOI:	10.1586/14737167.2015.1048227