Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
Student Scientific Society, Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
PLoS One. 2024 Jun 7;19(6):e0304400. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304400. eCollection 2024.
Affordability of medicines is key for effective healthcare. Thus, we compared medicine prices using International Dollar (I$), which allows confronting the values of different currencies. Besides, we intended to verify if pharmaceutical market deregulation leads to lower medicines prices.
We conducted the study between December 2019 and September 2022 collecting data from 21 countries. From the preliminary sampling of 30 medicines, we selected 10 brand names (5 Rx and 5 OTC brands) for the analysis. In each country, we collected price information from 3 pharmacies and then converted them to the I$ using the rates published by the International Monetary Fund.
There were differences between regulated and deregulated markets in prices presented in I$. For instance, Aspirin C® (10 soluble pills) was on average I$ 5.41 in Finland (regulated market) and I$ 13.25 in Brazil. The most expensive Xarelto® 20 x 28 pills (I$ 538.40) was in Romania, which in the case of other medicines, was in the group of cheaper countries. There was no statistical significance in price comparison between regulated and deregulated markets. In some cases, however, regulated markets offered lower prices of the same medicine than deregulated markets.
The analysis revealed differences in I$ prices between countries. Pharmaceutical market regulation does not mean higher prices of medicines. There is a need for affordable medicines. Hence, decision-makers should work on the medicines prices and adjust them to the local economies. I$ could be important in creating pharmaceuticals prices, and the conducted study should encourage other researchers to present their results using this currency.
药品的可负担性是有效医疗保健的关键。因此，我们使用国际元（I$）比较了药品价格，这允许比较不同货币的价值。此外，我们还旨在验证药品市场放松管制是否会导致药品价格降低。
我们在 2019 年 12 月至 2022 年 9 月期间进行了这项研究，从 21 个国家收集数据。从最初的 30 种药品抽样中，我们选择了 10 个品牌（5 个 Rx 和 5 个 OTC 品牌）进行分析。在每个国家，我们从 3 家药店收集价格信息，然后使用国际货币基金组织公布的汇率将其转换为 I$。
在 I$ 中，监管和非监管市场的价格存在差异。例如，Aspirin C®（10 片可溶性）在芬兰（监管市场）的平均价格为 I$5.41，而在巴西则为 I$13.25。最昂贵的 Xarelto®20 x 28 片（I$538.40）在罗马尼亚，而在其他药品的情况下，罗马尼亚属于价格较低的国家之列。在监管和非监管市场的价格比较中，没有统计学意义。然而，在某些情况下，监管市场提供的同一药品价格低于非监管市场。
分析显示各国之间 I$价格存在差异。药品市场监管并不意味着药品价格更高。需要有负担得起的药品。因此，决策者应该关注药品价格，并根据当地经济情况进行调整。I$ 在制定药品价格方面可能很重要，进行这项研究应该鼓励其他研究人员使用这种货币来展示他们的研究结果。
