The UK is paying less for new cancer drugs than a number of other high-income countries, according to a report in The Lancet Oncology.
While the UK, Greece, Spain and Portugal pay the least, on average, for the drugs they use, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland pay the most.
The authors said more transparency was needed because some countries risked overpaying for drugs.
The pharmaceutical industry said the UK was getting a fair deal on medicines.
Prices of cancer drugs have risen steeply in recent years, placing major stress on many healthcare systems, including the NHS.
The report said drugs had accounted for nearly a third of the EU’s 51 billion euro (£37bn) cancer healthcare spending in 2009.
And the researchers then compared the 2013 price of 31 cancer drugs in 18 high-income countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden and Portugal.
Open pricing
Prices in Greece were the lowest for 14 out of the 24 cancer drugs available there.
The price of drugs in the UK was also low.
Prices of drugs in Switzerland, Germany and Sweden were frequently the highest – and for some drugs, such as interferon alfa 2b to treat leukaemia and skin cancer, were twice as high.
The price figures come from the Pharma Price Information service in Austria, which details what manufacturers charge per unit – a single tablet or vial of a drug, for example.
But although the official list prices published in this report are freely available, any further discounts – which are often negotiated by organisations in different countries – remain confidential.
Sabine Vogler, report author and researcher at the Austrian Public Health Institute, said some countries risked overpaying for drugs as a result.
“The discounts should be open to everyone, but industry doesn’t want to do it. However, it would allow some countries to see that they are overpaying.”
David Watson, director of pricing and reimbursement at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said the report was evidence that newer medicines “are affordable in the UK”.
He said the UK was “getting a fair deal with regards to medicines pricing” and the NHS was “getting good value for money”.
–
By: BBC