Samenvatting

This research examined the role of the European Union in lowering medicine prices of cancer treatment. For this, the following research question was used: How can the European Union contribute to the reduction of medicine prices of cancer treatment? This question was answered by means of seven sub-questions, which were investigated by both quantitative and qualitative data, as well as primary and secondary sources. Moreover, five stakeholders who are involved in the discussion of medicine prices were interviewed.
This dissertation includes a case study of the Netherlands. To make the research more explicit, cancer treatment has been chosen as cancer is the second cause of death in the European Union (EU), and the most important in the Netherlands. The prices of cancer drugs are high and differ among countries. The pharmaceutical industry bases its prices on a country’s economy, as well as the Research & Development (R&D), production and marketing costs. Especially the R&D costs affect the price, as companies want to earn their invested money back. To make a profit - which will be partially used for new innovations - companies set their prices high. In the Netherlands, the expenditure on expensive medicines was €1,924 billion in 2016, of which 42% was spent on cancer treatment.
Pricing and reimbursement are national competences rather than EU responsibilities; however, the role of the EU can be found in transparency, Intellectual Property Rights and competition. Although it is hard to change European legislation, it is recommended to consider new pricing models as the current system does not contribute to lower medicine prices; to ensure full transparency, as this is important for pricing and reimbursement decisions; to harmonise European Health Technology Assessments, resulting in a uniform measurement of medicines; and to revise the IPRs, as patents provide companies a monopoly position, leading to high medicine prices. Therefore, the European Commission’s revision of Supplementary Protection Certificates - extra extension of a patent - is highly encouraged.
On the other side of the coin are the arguments of the pharmaceutical industry, which should be taken into account as well. Profits are important to recoup and support the R&D of new innovations. In addition, the pharmaceutical industry launched medicines in the market which were unthinkable back then. However, the number of cancer diagnoses and the required expensive cancer drugs will increase. Therefore, it is of importance to tackle the issue of high medicine prices of cancer treatment and to ensure its accessibility and affordability. To achieve this, the EU and its collaborations - such as the BeNeLuxAI (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria and Ireland) - are of relevance.