Italy: OECD survey - confidential agreements and barriers to transparency in drug pricing

23 Oct 2024    1 minute read
Sectors Healthcare & Life Sciences

In brief

The recently published OECD survey involving 43 member countries found that less than half of the countries require the publication of drug list prices, while the remaining countries are affected by legal and/or contractual constraints that prevent the publication of drug price information.

Contents

Key takeaways

More specifically, said survey showed the following results: (a) 9 out of 43 countries report the presence of domestic legal provisions that prohibit or otherwise significantly restrict public disclosure of net drug price information; (b) 6 out of 43 countries report of barriers to transparency caused by legal constraints that prevent the sharing of drug prices; (c) 32 out of 43 countries report the existence of contractual clauses that restrict the sharing of drug price information; (d) all 43 countries surveyed report a keen interest in obtaining information on prices paid for drugs, and this is both to guide price negotiations and to regulate external reference pricing and joint procurement initiatives; (e) only 20 out of 43 countries impose the publication of list prices.

Despite the international community's apparent strong interest in transparency, the results of said survey reflect significant barriers to achieving this goal.

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