Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 21 November 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed)

9:00 am

Mr. Shaun Flanagan:

I must qualify that our responsibility is for reimbursement, which is not a purchasing model, and this should be remembered. The one case of which I have recent experience is the hepatitis C tender. Clearly, before one goes into any tender, one must figure out the criteria. If the drugs are very alike, it will be almost entirely price, but if the drugs have significant variations there will be more for the other advantages in terms of convenience, perhaps, or whatever else. I can tell the Deputy that the hepatitis C tender was almost substantially based on price, and that delivered about-----