Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 567: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress made in reducing the cost of medicines and medical devices here; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that, for example, an inhaler tube costs nearly four times as much in the Republic of Ireland compared to Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34451/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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My Department and the HSE have implemented a number of reforms to reduce the cost of medicines to both the State and individual patients. Under the terms of the current agreements between the HSE and pharmaceutical manufacturers, price cuts of 35% have been applied to all off-patent proprietary products for which generic alternatives are available on the Irish market. A report published by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics in May 2009 estimated that approximately €250 million will be saved due to off-patent price cuts, up to August 2010, when the agreements come up for renewal.

Since 2006 a larger basket of reference countries has been used for determining the prices of new products accepted for reimbursement under the State drugs schemes. The current agreements also permit price adjustments to reflect price changes in the reference countries.

I recently reduced the wholesale mark-up payable on medicines from 17.66% to 10% and reduced the retail mark-up payable under certain schemes from 50% to 20%. Savings from the measures have been estimated at €55 million for 2009 and €133 million on a full year basis.

Historically, the reimbursement prices of non-drug items in Ireland were determined by the currency-adjusted UK prices. The prices of non-drug items have been frozen since 2003. The HSE has established a group to review the non-drug area and to consider procurement options for non-drug items which will deliver increased value for money. My Department and the HSE are continuing to examine all options for containing pharmaceutical expenditure, including the introduction of a system of reference pricing.