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Are some orphan drugs for rare diseases too expensive? A study of purchase versus compounding costs

  • Pharmacoeconomics: Original Research Article
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Abstract

Hospital purchase prices substantially exceed compounding production costs in Belgium for selected orphan drugs that had low costs of research and development and market access procedures. As a result, healthcare payers seem to be paying too much for these orphan drugs and there are arguments for price reductions. Pharmacies can consider compounding, rather than purchasing, these orphan drugs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank An Van de Vijver of Brabants Apothekers Forum for her contribution to the data collection. No sources of funding were used to conduct this study or prepare this manuscript. The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Pharmaceutical Care and Pharmaco-economics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Onderwijs en Navorsing 2, Herestraat 49, P.O. Box 521, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Steven Simoens & Eline Picavet

  2. Department of Hepatology, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    David Cassiman

  3. Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Marc Dooms

Authors
  1. Steven Simoens
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  2. David Cassiman
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  3. Eline Picavet
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  4. Marc Dooms
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Correspondence to Steven Simoens.

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Simoens, S., Cassiman, D., Picavet, E. et al. Are some orphan drugs for rare diseases too expensive? A study of purchase versus compounding costs. Drugs Ther. Perspect 27, 24–26 (2011). https://doi.org/10.2165/11601640-000000000-00000

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/11601640-000000000-00000

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