TY - DATA T1 - Implications of external price referencing of pharmaceuticals in Middle East countries PY - 2015/11/02 AU - Zoltán Vokó AU - Zoltán Kaló AU - Ibrahim Alabbadi AU - Ola Ghaleb Al Ahdab AU - Maryam Alowayesh AU - Mahmoud Elmahdawy AU - Abdulaziz H Al-Saggabi AU - Vito Luigi Tanzi AU - Daoud Al-Badriyeh AU - Hamad S Alsultan AU - Faleh Mohamed Hussain Ali AU - Gihan H Elsisi AU - Kasem S Akhras AU - Panos Kanavos UR - https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Implications_of_external_price_referencing_of_pharmaceuticals_in_Middle_East_countries/1615930 DO - 10.6084/m9.figshare.1615930.v1 L4 - https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/2596624 KW - Middle Eastern KW - pharmaceutical KW - service KW - epr KW - drug price levels KW - External price referencing KW - Middle East countries Introduction KW - market exchange rates KW - price corridor N2 - Introduction: External price referencing (EPR) is applied frequently to control pharmaceutical prices. Our objective was to analyse how EPR is used in Middle Eastern (ME) countries and to compare the price corridor for original pharmaceuticals to non-pharmaceutical services not subjected to EPR. Methods: We conducted a survey on EPR regulations and collected prices of 16 patented pharmaceuticals and 14 non-pharmaceutical services in seven Middle Eastern (ME) countries. Maximum and minimum prices of each pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical technology were compared to mean prices in the countries studied by using market exchange rates. Influencing factors of pharmaceutical prices were assessed by multivariate linear regression analysis. Results: The average price corridor is narrower for pharmaceuticals (−39.8%; +35.9%) than for outpatient and hospital services (−81.7%; +96.3%). Conclusion: Our analysis revealed the importance of population size and EPR implementation on drug price levels; however, EPR results in higher pharmaceutical prices in lower-income countries compared to non-pharmaceutical services. ER -