ANALYSIS OF CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINES PRICES AND REIMBURSEMENT IN BULGARIA AND ROMANIA
ZORNITSA MITKOVA1, MARIYA VASILEVA2, ALEXANDRA SAVOVA1,2, MANOELA MANOVA1,2, GUENKA PETROVA1*
1.Medical University of Sofia, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bulgaria
2.National Council on Pricing and Reimbursement of medicinal products, Bulgaria
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The goal of the study was to compare the pricing methodology, manufacturers, and retail prices of cardiovascular medicines (CV), reimbursed in Bulgaria (BG) and Romania (RO). Regulatory analysis was applied towards the several legislation acts enforced in BG and RO, corresponding to the pricing system. The price comparison was made for all reimbursed cardiovascular medicines (mono-products and fixed dose combinations). Descriptive statistic and t-test analysis was used to determine the differences in average manufacturer and retail prices per International Non-proprietary Name (INN). Overall, this study reveals that, despite the fact that both countries joined the European Union simultaneously, and follow the same European regulations, decisions on what reimbursement approach to take is left to the national policy, leading to differences in patient co-payment, manufacturer and retail prices, and influencing both pharmaceutical industry and patients’ access to medicines.
