The Pharmaceutical Market: Slovenia

Summary

Slovenia is a small but relatively wealthy country, located in central Southern Europe. A part of Yugoslavia prior to 1991, Slovenia escaped from the collapse of that country virtually untouched by violence and ethnic warfare. In other respects, the country more closely resembles its Western neighbours rather than other former Communist states; demographic indicators are more in line with Western than Eastern Europe and income levels are comparable with those found in Southern parts of the European Union. The Slovenian pharmaceutical market is thus relatively advanced.
The country has a sizeable domestic industry and is home to the two largest generics companies in Europe, Krka and Lek. Slovenian pharmaceutical regulations are aligned with EU legislation, following EU entry in May 2004 and are enforced by the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices, of the MoH. Patent laws have come under fire in recent years, but the introduction of the 8+2+1 formula in April 2006 helped to prevent Slovenia being placed on the US 301 Watch List for 2007.

New pricing regulations came into effect in January 2007, which should save US$32 million of the US$690 million currently spent on prescription drugs at hospitals each year. Research companies have criticised the new legislation as the price of a patented drug is now matched to the lowest price in one of the reference countries, rather than the average. Generic prices must not exceed 85% of the average of a similar product.

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