European Union: OECD survey – confidential agreements and barriers to transparency in drug pricing

Short

The recently released OECD survey of 43 member countries found that less than half of countries require the publication of drug list prices, while the remaining countries have legal and/or contractual restrictions preventing the publication of drug price information.

Specifically, this survey produced the following results: (A) 9 out of 43 countries report the existence of national legal provisions that prohibit or otherwise significantly restrict the public disclosure of net drug pricing information; (B) 6 out of 43 countries report barriers to transparency caused by legal restrictions that prevent drug price sharing; (C) 32 out of 43 countries report the existence of contractual clauses restricting the sharing of drug pricing information; (D) All 43 countries surveyed reported a strong interest in obtaining information on prices paid for medicines, both to guide price negotiations and to regulate external reference prices and joint procurement initiatives; (e) only 20 out of 43 countries require the publication of list prices.

Despite the international community's apparent strong interest in transparency, the results of this survey reflect significant obstacles to this goal.