Price Information Exchange for Selected Medicines in the Western Pacific Region

1. Price Information Exchange for Selected Medicines in the Western Pacific Regionwww.piemeds.com DardaneArifaj-Blumi ICIUM 2011

2. Outline • Background • Methodology • Challenges • Presentation • Conclusion

3. Background • Prices of medicines procured in the public sector vary greatly between countries and are not often publicly available. • Prices for AIDS, Malaria and TB medicines are more readily accessible. • Very few sources of information on prices of medicines for chronic diseases and pediatric medicines. • Methodologies for collecting information on prices are often costly and complicated, yet difficult to use for cross-country comparisons.

4. Western Pacific Regional Context • Countries as big as China and as small as Niue • Pacific Island countries - most medicines procured by public sector (central procurement) • Mainland countries - highly decentralized • Different systems: free of charge, paid out-of-pocket, insurance/reimbursement, revolving drug funds

5. Background (2) • Countries in the Western Pacific region have expressed the need for establishing a transparentmechanism for information exchange which will help them to assess procurement efficiencyand provide leveragewhen negotiating prices with suppliers.

6. Methodology • Member countries of the WHO Western Pacific region were invited to participate. • Structured questionnaires on medicines prices of the most recent procurement cycle in public sector: • product name • pack size • price per pack and unit • manufacturer • supplier • quantity procured

7. Methodology (2) • Semi-structured questionnaires were used for information on countries’ procurement system • centralized/decentralized • tendering cycles and processes • quality control • financing/pricing policies • taxes

8. Response • Round 1: - May - October 2009 - 18 countries - 31 medicines • Round 2: - June - November 2010 - 14 countries - 40 medicines

9. Challenge – data quality • Incomplete information • Manual recording (illegible entries) in the first round • Unit price not per smallest unit (syrups, injections, inhalers)

10. Challenge – data quality (2) • Alternative dosage forms recorded • Confusion between manufacturer and supplier • Information on volume procured often missing • Currency (i.e. one country 4 different currencies)

11. Presentation of data • WPRO ensuring data quality through standardization and extensive data cleaning. • Conceptual design of the web-presentation. • Web-development and data encoding in collaboration with the University of the Philippines, National Telehealth Center. • In 2010 the platform for price information exchange www.piemeds.com(also in .netand .org) was launched.

12. www.piemeds.comlanding page

20. Conclusion • Received very positive feed-back from countries. • In a snap-shot, countries were able to compare their prices with other countries in the Region or sub-region and with the international reference prices. • Countries used the information to assess their procurement efficiency and some to immediately re-negotiate their prices with suppliers.

21. Conclusion (2) • piemeds.compromotes transparency by making publicly available procurement prices for countries in the Western Pacific region. • Comparative bar diagrams include more information than other sources of prices yet the presentation is clear and easier to follow. • Other regions, economic blocks and organizations are showing interests in adapting the approach and some are already applying this innovative way of displaying prices.

22. Conclusion (cost) • piemeds.com is sponsored by WHO Western Pacific Region. • It was established and is maintained with minimal costs: voluntary participation, no costs for training and data collection, simple to follow instructions, using existing expertise in countries and in WHO. • piemeds.com is a powerful cost-efficient and simple to use tool that serves countries.

23. Thank you Questions welcomed