Generic drugs will become cheaper than original drugs and patients’ co-payment will increase if they choose the more expensive product. This is how the Swiss government plans to save CHF250 million ($275 million) a year.
The government has adopted the revisions to the Ordinance on Health Insurance, the Ordinance on Health Care Services and the Ordinance on Medicinal Products, which will come into force on January 1, 2024.
The focus is on the sale of generic drugs and biosimilar medicines. These equally effective and less expensive drugs are used less often in Switzerland than abroad. Increasing the price gap to the original
The Swiss government is now intervening in the pricing of certain generic drugs and biosimilar medicines with chemical active ingredients because they are about twice as expensive as abroad. The House of Representatives rejected the introduction of a reference price system in 2020 and instructed the government to make adjustments at the ordinance level and enable savings.
Now, for generic drugs of active substances with a market volume of CHF4 million to CHF8 million, the price gap to the original preparation will be increased from 30% to 40%. The price gaps applied in the triennial review will be increased by 5%.
When reviewing generic drugs for which there is no longer an original preparation with the same active ingredient in the list of specialities, a therapeutic cross-comparison with other generic drugs will be carried out to assess cost-effectiveness. At the moment, these generic drugs cannot be reviewed.
The Swiss government is also acting on biosimilar medicines. Up to now, these medicines have been included in the list of specialities if they are at least 25% cheaper than the original biological preparation. In the context of the triennial review, they must be 10% cheaper.