Abstract
This study focused on a review of the national system for drug price policy. Methods including
interviewing key persons in various organizations, meetings with experts, studying related documents
and literatures, were used. The study revealed that Ministry of Public Health (MOPH hospitals) had several
indirect drug price control mechanisms for government sector especially for the MOPH hospitals themselves. Drug price control has been started in the process of national essential drug list (ED) selection.
Cost effectiveness and budget impact analyses were parts of the consideration criteria. After drugs
were selected as the ED, median price would be set as the price control measure for procurement process
of MOPH hospitals. In addition, central negotiation was used for controlling price of single source nonessential
drugs in MOPH hospitals. National Health Security Office takes the leading role in price negotiating
of high cost ED to ensure accessibility for their beneficiaries. However, limited items were negotiated
in each year. Group purchasing in level of provinces and regions was not much expanded from the
past.
There exists no autonomous body and no regulation for controlling of manufacturer price setting
before drug registration processes. No regulation and system for controlling mark up in private sector
have been implemented. Selling price was controlled to not more than price list. For drug price monitoring,
only voluntary reporting of MOPH hospital purchasing price was available under the Drug and
Medical Supply Information Center (DMSIC).
As the ways to improve drug price control system in Thailand, manufacturer production cost structure
should be submitted as the condition for national essential drug list consideration. In terms of negotiation,
knowledge management of negotiation and purchasing strategies, expanding of items for central
negotiation for all three health insurance schemes are encouraged. Drug price setting for procurement
and a monitoring system should be improved. Moreover, a study on adverse effects of drug price control
system on domestic pharmaceutical industries is necessary.
