Pharmacists are using double- digit discounts from generic drug firms to subsidise losses in other parts of their business, according to the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU).
The union said one in four of its members was operating at a loss, despite reports that they enjoy discounts of up to 90 per cent on the price of generic drugs for which they are reimbursed by the Health Service Executive.
Two generic drug companies are offering pharmacists discounts ranging from 40 to 90 per cent on drugs they are dispensing for the HSE, according to the Sunday Business Post .
Prozac
Neither company was named, but in the examples quoted the HSE was paying the pharmacist 10 times as much as pharmacists were paying for drugs such as aciclovir (used to treat cold sores) and the antidepressant fluoxetine, originally known as Prozac.
Separately, a survey showed that people who pay for their own drugs are paying as much as 18 times the price of the same generic medicine in Northern Ireland. Pharmacists in the Republic were charging €166 for olanzapine, compared with just €9 in the North.
The price of atorvastatin, which is prescribed for high cholesterol, was €2.87 in Northern Ireland. In the Republic private customers pay up to €33.77, while the HSE pays €18.22.
The IPU said “purchase price incentives” were a feature of all businesses. It pointed out that the HSE benefited from the practice, having recouped 8.2 per cent of the cost of all medicines from payments to pharmacists since 2009.
Small market
The union argues that generic medicines cost more in Ireland because they account for a relatively small part of the market and so sales volumes are lower. The amount of generics dispensed in Ireland is 18 per cent, or even less by value, compared to 80 per cent in the UK.
“Every time the Government and the manufacturers lower the price of medicines those reductions have been passed on by pharmacists to their patients. Further falls in medicine prices will occur and will also benefit patients,” a spokesman said.
Pharmacists have seen their payments cut three times in recent years. In 2009, some pharmacists withdrew from the HSE-funded drug schemes in a dispute over drug prices but their protest action fizzled out quickly.
