title: Reforming the Swedish pharmaceuticals market: consequences for costs per defined daily dose.
abstract: In 2009 and 2010, the Swedish pharmaceuticals market was reformed. One of the stated policy goals was to achieve low costs for pharmaceutical products dispensed in Sweden. We use price and sales data for off-patent brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals to estimate a log-linear regression model, allowing us to assess how the policy changes affected the cost per defined daily dose. The estimated effect is an 18 % cost reduction per defined daily dose at the retail level and a 34 % reduction in the prices at the wholesale level (pharmacies' purchase prices). The empirical results suggest that the cost reductions were caused by the introduction of a price cap, an obligation to dispense the lowest-cost generic substitute available in the whole Swedish market, and the introduction of well-defined exchange groups. The reforms thus reduced the cost per defined daily dose for consumers while being advantageous also for the pharmacies, who saw their retail margins increase. However, pharmaceutical firms supplying off-patent pharmaceuticals experienced a clear reduction in the price received for their products.
authors.affiliation: Södertörn University, 141 89, Huddinge, Sweden.|HUI Research, 103 29, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mats A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bergman
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Granlund
authors.affiliation: HUI Research, 103 29, Stockholm, Sweden. nru@du.se.|The School of Technology and Business Studies, Dalarna University, 791 88, Falun, Sweden. nru@du.se.
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rudholm
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce; D003363:Cost Control; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D016527:Drug Costs; D004345:Drug Industry; D016568:Drugs, Generic; D004465:Economic Competition; D006291:Health Policy; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D016568:Drugs, Generic
keywords: Competition; Generics; National pharmacy monopoly; Pharmaceutical industry; Pharmacy deregulation; Pricing