Objectives: To analyse the market shares of biosimilars in Slovakia and to calculate the potential cost-savings from the use of biosimilars in Slovakia based on two different data sources. Methods: National reimbursement lists from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia were used for analyzing the availability of biosimilars with public funding. In addition, the reimbursement dossiers of biosimilars, the justifications of reimbursement decisions by the Slovak Ministry of Health, and final reimbursement decrees, which are published on the webpage of the Slovak Ministry of Health, were utilized for this study. Reimbursement decisions regarding biosimilars by the Slovak Ministry of Health from 2006 to August 2019 were considered and the detailed utilization of biosimilars in 2018 was analyzed based on data from the State Institute for Drug Control. The study was validated based on data from the Slovak National Health Information Center. Results: Fifty four biosimilars were approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in August 2019. Of the total group of licensed biosimilars on the market, 29 biosimilars (54%) were available in the Czech Republic, 28 biosimilars (52%) were available in Poland, and 27 biosimilars (50%) were available in Hungary and 24 biosimilars (44%) were available in Slovakia. Our analysis, based on the data provided by distributors of medicinal products to the State Institute for Drug Control, revealed that the health fund in Slovakia could have saved 35 to 50 million euros per year if biosimilars with marketing authorisations had been available on the Slovak market. The calculations assumed a 25-35% price decrease against the original biological medical products, and that there would be no increase in the utilization of biosimilars in Slovakia. Conclusions: To achieve significant improvement in patient access to biosimilars in Slovakia, a top-down approach establishing targets and quotas for the procurement of biosimilars should be applied.
Slovakia is a country where the purchase of OTC (over the counter) medicines outside the pharmacy is not allowed by the government. This study aimed at evaluating patients' satisfaction and acceptance of community pharmacists. Customer's behaviour and expectations influencing the purchase of prescription and OTC medicines were analyzed. A structured questionnaire having 15 multiple-choice questions was used to analyze the descriptive parameters. Data collection lasted from January to February 2014. The sample size consisted of 357 high-school educated individuals under 40 years of age. The survey showed that the prescription and OTC medicines were bought equally. The participants reported a 96.0%, 96.3% and 90.2% satisfaction rate with willingness and approach of the community pharmacist, pharmacy services and provision of drug information respectively. As for the OTC medicines, 89.5% people considered the pharmacist an expert: 88.2% purchased medicines with pharmacist's recommendation, 97.8% needed a professional counselling and 97.2% required a pharmacist's guidance. As for the prescription drugs, only 72.1% considered the pharmacist an expert: 96.3% suggested that physician's prescription was significant and 88.3% considered pharmacist's guidance in the process of selection of prescription medicines nonessential. A comprehensible and respectable conversation was highly expected in regards to both the OTC and prescription medicines.
Due to the economic changes and fast progress in health technologies countries face the challenge of rapidly growing health expenditures. Drug policies focus on identification of the most problematic areas for implementation of cost-effective measures. For this purpose, they need to be provided with accurate analyses of health expenditures and drug utilization. Primary aim of this study was to analyze health expenditures of Slovak Republic in regards to factors, which are considered to have the largest influence on provision of health care. Secondarily we focused on providing a brief drug utilization analysis. Our study confirmed that since 2000 Slovakia invests a larger share of GDP in health care, while in 2013 overall health expenditure amounted 5.6 million EUR (7.6% of GDP). Despite recent growth (233.6 % since 2000), Slovakia remains under OECD average in regards to health expenditures per capita (PPP, USD). However, it is on the 2 nd place among V4 countries. Patients' share of the overall health expenditures is increasing 12.8 times faster than public reimbursement. Up to 1.5 million EUR was spent on pharmaceuticals in 2013. The most utilized group of drugs in terms of DIDs and sales were cardiovascular drugs. JEL Classification Number: I50, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12955/cbup.v4.763
Inhaled medications are considered a preferred dosage form of medicine to treat respiratory diseases, such as bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), when bronchodilators or, more precisely, controlled drugs for treatment are used. The main objective of our research was to find out community pharmacists’ general knowledge of particular inhalation systems (IS) dispensed in pharmacies. All data necessary for the evaluation have been obtained by an anonymous survey questionnaire carried out between September 2020 and January 2021, which was done both in printed form and online. The questionnaire was self-construction, anonymous, consisting of sociodemographic data (age, gender, residence address – region) and 22 research questions. Both the administration of bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids were monitored in the survey. A total of 115 respondents participated in the survey, 86 females (75%) and 29 males (25%). Most of the respondents, 45 (39%), were aged between 23 and 29. The data show that 62 respondents (53.91%) encounter inhaler dispensing several times a day, with the prevalence of aerosol inhalers (MDI), which was confirmed by 78 pharmacists (67.83%). Most of the time, pharmacists meet patients with bronchial asthma, 80 (69.57%), and bronchodilators are prescribed for therapy mainly, 74 (64.35%). In total, 60 respondents (52.17%) provide patients with information on proper administration of inhaled medicines at their request, and only 46 of the respondents (40%) do it without being asked. The survey outcomes show that community pharmacists have minimum knowledge of nebulizers and also of the use of inhalator attachments. The vast majority of participants, 90 (78.26%), say that since they graduated, they haven’t attended any education courses aimed at proper administration of inhaled medications as part of their constant education. Up to 95 respondents (82.61%) are interested in IS mock-ups in a pharmacy, 103 pharmacists (89.97%) in information materials for their self-study, and 110 respondents (95.65%) in IS leaflets and brochures for patients. A positive finding of the survey is that the majority of the respondents, 101 (87.83%), are interested in further educating themselves to get knowledge of this matter in the future. Our survey outcomes show that our respondents’ knowledge of inhalation systems (IS) is sufficient. Most of the pharmacists who participated in the survey can provide patients with basic information regarding the proper administration of inhaled medicines.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.