There was some good annouced earlier today as the Government reached an agreement with a number of pharmaceutical firms that will see the state saving a massive €785m on presciption drugs bills.
The new agreement that will run for the next four-years will also see drigs prices at 38 companies set at the same prices as other leading European countries.
According to the Departmeent of Health and The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association the latest agreement will save the Irish taxpayer in the region of €200m a year.
The news was weelcomed by many given the fact that the state spent a massive €1.7bn on essential drugs and medicines last year alone.
Speaking about the latest agreement Dr Leisha Daly, president of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) said the deal was the largest single savings package for drugs the state has ever secured.
Dr Daly further explained: “It is essential that patients have early access to life-saving and life-enhancing new medicines. This agreement is the best way to make that happen,” she said.
“It offers a clear process and sustainable pricing so that new medicines can be made available quickly to patients in Ireland.
“With this agreement in place, patients and their doctors can rightly expect that priority will be given to funding innovative, new medicines in the health services.”
Meanwhile the Minister for Health Simon Harris says the savings will enable the State to fund the cost of some new drugs.
He said: “I was very fearful, as I think were the Department, that is we continued on the trajectory before this arrangement, with constant rising of prices and a pipeline of new drugs, where were we going to find the resources to provide it?
“So what this deal does it to provide that headroom as new drugs come on stream, we want our patients in this country to access new and innovative drugs. We’ve a very good record in that regard, that we have the headroom to do that.”