The Irish Pharmaceutical Union has dismissed as "simplistic and superficial" a consultants' report showing that Irish pharmacies have the highest profit margins in the EU. The report also suggests that prices of some pharmaceutical products in Ireland are among the highest in Europe.
However, the union says a comparison of the prices of just three products was too narrow and failed to take all the facts into account.
The report was prepared by Indecon International Economic Consultants for the Pharmacy Review Group, which represents a range of interests including the Department of Health and the Irish Pharmaceutical Union.
Its job is to assess regulations introduced in 1996 which imposed restrictions on where new pharmacies could be set up. The restrictions were criticised by the OECD. The regulations were abolished early this year by the Minister for Health and Children even though the Pharmacy Review Group had not yet completed its deliberations.
The Indecon report compares the price of three products in Ireland and in 11 other European countries. The price of one, Augmention 500, an antibiotic, was higher in Ireland last year than anywhere in the 12 countries except Denmark. Ireland and France were the most expensive countries in which to buy a box of plasters.
However, for a box of what is described as "coughing and throat relief", pharmacists in seven countries charged more than their Irish counterparts.
The Irish Pharmaceutical Union said an average Irish pharmacy would stock 10,000- 20,000 products which highlighted the "extremely narrow and flawed basis" for comparison.
"The report ignores the fact that one of these products is widely available in any corner shop in the country," it says. "Another is available across the counter in many European countries but in Ireland, Government regulations dictate that it only be available on prescription." The report "ignores the fact that the prices of prescription medicines have been fixed by the Government since 1993 and therefore individual pharmacists have no control over what prices they charge for such goods."
The consultants found that the price of pharmaceutical products rose by 12.7 per cent in Ireland between 1996 and 2001. This was the highest increase in a list of six European countries. Next highest was Spain at 9.8 per cent.
The report quotes a 1997 survey showing that Irish pharmacies had the highest margins in the EU, at 33 per cent, followed by Belgium at 29 per cent. Margins in Britain were lowest at 7.5 per cent.
The survey found a division of opinion between the owners of pharmacies and the people who work for them. Most owners were in favour of restrictions on where new pharmacies can be set up but most employees were against the restrictions, the survey found.
However, most employers and employees agreed there should be an end to a restriction preventing pharmacists educated outside Ireland from managing and supervising new pharmacies which are less than three years old.
The IPU maintains that the 1996 restrictions in the regulations boosted the chances that rural areas and small towns would get pharmacies. The survey found, however, that "notwithstanding the objective of the regulations, most of the applications for new contracts were in urban areas and there were no differences in the success rate for urban areas compared to rural areas."