Enhancing competition in on-patent markets
The 2018 OECD report Pharmaceutical Innovation and Access to Medicines noted that
fostering competition in both on- and off-patent markets can improve the efficiency
of pharmaceutical spending. Various policies are used to promote competition among
off-patent medicines, but generally do not induce competition in on-patent markets.
While tendering is widely used for hospital and other institutional purchasing, it
is less common for ambulatory care medicines, or where medicines are reimbursed rather
than supplied directly. As part of its broader work agenda on “Increasing the transparency
of pharmaceutical markets to inform policies”, this paper explores how payers could
harness competition to improve the efficiency of spending on medicines still subject
to patent protection or regulatory exclusivity. The OECD undertook an extensive analysis
consisting of two parts: 1) a quantitative analysis using product-level time series
sales data to explore whether therapeutic competition occurs, and, if so, how it has
affected prices and volumes over time, based on a sample of countries and therapeutic
classes and 2) a review of current practices and policies on pricing, coverage and
procurement of on-patent medicines to identify whether these have been influencing
competition between alternative therapeutic products. This report presents the key
findings from this analytical work.
Available from June 09, 2023
In series:OECD Health Working Papersview more titles