§ Siobhain McDonaghTo ask the Secretary of State for Health which country in Europe has the highest prices for branded medicines; and what the range of prices is. [183665]
113W
§ Ms Rosie WintertonEach year, the Department publishes a comparison of branded medicine prices in the United Kingdom with a range of European countries and the United States. The latest published figures for 2002 show that the UK is the highest among these European comparator countries. The range of prices is shown in the table.
Bilateral comparisons of ex-manufacturer prices Country 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Five year1 average France 85 84 80 81 81 81 Germany 108 97 91 94 95 95 Italy 81 83 79 82 86 86 Netherlands n/a n/a 81 84 88 89 Spain 71 67 64 67 75 75 UK 100 100 100 100 100 100 USA 174 184 209 217 201 204 Austria 81 83 77 81 86 86 Belgium 86 84 78 81 86 86 Finland 86 85 align="right"83 84 88 89 Ireland 90 88 83 88 93 93 1 This is based on bilateral comparisons, i.e. the form and strength matches occurred between the UK and another country, using average annual exchange rates.