Medicines

Government Proposal to Parliament on legislation to improve the cost-effectiveness of pharmaceutical services and related proposals for amendments to decrees

The Government Proposal proposes to amend the Act on Electronic Prescriptions, the Medicines Act and the Health Insurance Act. It is proposed to promote the prescription of the most affordable biological medicinal products by moving from the decree-level to the level of an Act the obligation of physicians to prescribe the most affordable generic biological medicinal product from the products that are available and comparable. The obligation would be enhanced by self-monitoring, supervision by authorities, and sanctions. 

It is proposed that the criteria for generic substitution are amended to enable the inclusion of generic inhaled medicinal products in the list of medicinal products approved for generic substitution, if the inhaled medicinal products are therapeutically equivalent and their delivery devices so similar that with the appropriate advice on the device provided by the pharmacy the substitution, if the inhaled medicinal products are therapeutically equivalent and their delivery devices so similar that with the appropriate advice on the device provided by the pharmacy the substitution is safe.