Secret price negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies
In spring 2016, following a request from the pharmaceutical companies, the director of the Health Trust’s Procurement Service announced that the price negotiations with the companies, and pharmaceutical prices, legally were trade secrets (11). This policy change was criticised by the Norwegian Drug Procurement Cooperation, among others, and submitted to public hearing. All the responses from the hearing, except for three – including the response from the pharmaceutical industry – were negative and underscored the importance of transparency, in line with international recommendations (3, 12). The directors of the regional health trusts will soon reach their decision.
Pharmaceutical companies buy political and medical influence, most of all in countries at the forefront in medicine such as the USA, Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK (13). The approval authorities can be influenced – the European Medicines Agency is dependent on these firms for its income – in order for the companies, amongst others things, to achieve higher prices for their drugs (2, 3, 14). This year for the first time, Norwegian health personnel reported the fees they had received from pharmaceutical companies, but only for 2015 (15). A prominent neurologist in the field of multiple sclerosis reported receiving NOK 170 000 (USD 20 700). Participation was voluntary, one third declined to take part, and the amounts reported were not checked.
It is unacceptable that the pharmaceutical companies have virtually sole responsibility for selecting which drugs should be subject to randomised, controlled trials, and for funding and managing these trials. Patients can be given less costly and better drugs more rapidly if politicians ensure responsible regulation (14). The Nordic countries, for example, could establish a shared, publicly owned pharmaceutical company.