With the arrival of new, mainly anti-cancer, drugs which are targeted at small populations and which are very/extremely high priced, international discussions are intensifying how to deal with the budget consequences. Especially when such a specific medicine does not reach 100% efficacy.
One of the lines of thinking, proposed by the pharma industry, consists of making definitive payment dependend upon achieved individual therapeutic results. So if there is no result, there will be no payment.
At GIMS we welcome this concept, but at the same time argue that this concept should ALSO be applied to other groups of less expensive medicines. Then industry would also be more interested in having a positive influence on the results of other chain partners.
In the end, medicines are ‘just a mean’ in reaching a desired health result, or therapeutic outcome, for which society is willing/able to pay.