Czech Republic: changes in pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals

The rules for pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals are likely to change under legislation adopted by the Czech Parliament. The new rules would take effect from 1 January 2008 and should bring the Czech Republic into line with EU laws governing the pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals.

The main changes include:

• standardised administrative proceedings for dealing with individual applications to set the amount to be reimbursed (replacing the current system of setting by decree)

• transferring overall responsibility to the State Institute for Drug Control for setting maximum prices (instead of the Ministry of Finance) and reimbursement by the national health insurance system (instead of the Ministry of Health)

• various measures aimed at improving transparency in decision-making, cost effectiveness and potential for differentiation (for specific categories of pharmaceuticals or specific circumstances arising in the public sector)

Law: Draft Act on Stabilisation of Public Budgets amending number of individual acts; Act no. 48/1997 Coll., as amended, on Public Health Insurance; EU Transparency Directive (89/105)