Posted by Michael Wonder on 20 Jan 2020
Talkin’ about a resolution: issues in the push for greater transparency of medicine prices
20 January 2020 - At the 2019 World Health Assembly, a significant new resolution was agreed by most countries to start publicly sharing information on the real net prices they pay for medicines in their health systems.
The resolution also includes provisions for countries to support other transparency activities. However, an additional proposal to require pharmaceutical companies to submit information on their internal sales figures, internal research and development costs, clinical trial costs and marketing costs for each individual medicine as a condition of registration, and for governments to publish this, was not agreed.
Pressure for coordinated international action to increase the transparency of medicine prices and costs has been building for some time, as confidential discounts and rebates on prices of medicines are common.
