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How Do Drug Prices Respond to a Change from External to Internal Reference Pricing? Evidence from a Danish Regulatory Reform

Author

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  • Kaiser, Ulrich

    (University of Zurich)

  • Méndez, Susan J.

    (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research)

Abstract

We study the effects of a change in the way patient reimbursements are calculated on the prices of pharmaceuticals using quasi-experimental data for Denmark which switched from external (where reimbursements are based on prices of similar products in foreign countries) to internal reference pricing (where they are based on the cheapest domestic substitute). We analyze three therapeutic classes with different treatment durations and show that the reform led to substantial price decreases for our lifelong treatment and to less substantial price reductions for our medium duration treatment while we do not find significant effects on our acute treatment. Moreover, the reform did only affect generics and did not impact original products or parallel imports.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaiser, Ulrich & Méndez, Susan J., 2015. "How Do Drug Prices Respond to a Change from External to Internal Reference Pricing? Evidence from a Danish Regulatory Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 8759, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8759
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nina Pavcnik, 2002. "Do Pharmaceutical Prices Respond to Potential Patient Out-of-Pocket Expenses?," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(3), pages 469-487, Autumn.
    2. Brekke, Kurt R. & Grasdal, Astrid L. & Holms, Tor Helge, 2009. "Regulation and pricing of pharmaceuticals: Reference pricing or price cap regulation?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 170-185, February.
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    5. Berndt, Ernst R. & Dubois, Pierre, 2012. "Impacts of Patent Expiry and Regulatory Policies on Daily Cost of Pharmaceutical Treatments: OECD Countries, 2004-2010," IDEI Working Papers 702, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    6. Kaiser, Ulrich & Mendez, Susan J. & Rønde, Thomas & Ullrich, Hannes, 2014. "Regulation of pharmaceutical prices: Evidence from a reference price reform in Denmark," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 174-187.
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    9. Thomas Aronsson & Mats Bergman & Niklas Rudholm, 2001. "The Impact of Generic Drug Competition on Brand Name Market Shares – Evidence from Micro Data," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 19(4), pages 423-433, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Granlund, David & Bergman, Mats A., 2018. "Price competition in pharmaceuticals – Evidence from 1303 Swedish markets," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-12.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    pharmaceutical markets; regulation; reference pricing; treatment duration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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