Drug price reductions to take place in Nov.

 The China Post news staff--Pharmaceutical companies protested against the upcoming wave of reductions in drug prices in Taipei, yesterday, to which protest the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) responded negatively, saying that the price adjustment is inevitable.The last drug price reduction was conducted two years ago, and had caused 20 products to leave the Taiwanese pharmaceutical market. None of the drugs was irreplaceable, however; every single item was successfully substituted by its generic counterpart, the NHI pointed out. It is legally stipulated that drug prices need to be adjusted every two years after the implementation of the national health insurance program, and there exists no reason that the seventh adjustment, planned to take place this upcoming December, should not be carried out, Lai Chin-shiang (賴進祥), BNHI secretary-general, said yesterday, adding that compared to past adjustments, the maximum 40-percent reduction this time is already less strict. The BNHI had also rejected pharmaceutical companies' request that the adjustment be postponed, Lai confirmed. Despite so, the bureau has approved of forming an ad hoc group to re-evaluate the price set for certain irreplaceable, exceptionally expensive drugs, he said. Also, the eight drugs that were only subsidized by the NHI plan beginning last September will remain at their current prices, including omeprazole (used in the treatment of dyspepsia, peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease), avastin (used to treat cancer), Byetta (used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus type 2), and others, Shen Mao-ting (沈茂庭), BNHI staff mentioned. Instead of protesting like the foreign pharmaceutical companies' have been doing, domestic companies decided to negotiate with the BNHI. The drug price adjustment plan should be changed, they suggested, but agreed that switching up the drugs regularly used may also be a good idea.

Price Reduction Wipes Out New Drugs  Reducing drug prices potentially equals to kicking out 58 kinds of new drugs, as well as many old drugs — such as Prozac, the popular psychiatric medicine, the pharmaceutical protesters pointed out. The price of Prozac has been reduced 40 percent from NT$7 to NT$4.2 per pill, they said. According to the pharmaceutical industry, patients may be the ultimate victims of the price adjustment, as they will need to familiarize themselves with a new set of medicines.

Hospitals Benefit Too Much From Meds: Consumer's Foundation  On the contrary to the pharmaceutical industry's complaints, the Chinese Taipei Consumer's Foundation (消費者文教基金會) announced yesterday that they support such drug price reductions, as they believe pharmaceutical companies and hospitals have been benefiting ridiculously from selling and prescribing the medications to patients.